Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 6: West Bengal continues to be embroiled in protests on Friday against the horrific rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, even as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) ruled out gang rape with the BJP raking up old issues continue to raise the demand for the resignation of the chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
While the Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant any relief to the former principal of the college Sandip Ghosh rejecting his plea challenging the Calcutta High Court’s order transferring the investigation into the charges of financial irregularities by him in the college to the CBI, the central agency sources said the available evidences indicated that Sanjay Roy, who was arrested by the Kolkata Police within 12 hours of the crime, was the only accused involved in the horrific rape and murder of the 31-year old postgraduate trainee doctor.
The sources said the inquiry was in its “final stages” and that the CBI, waiting for the final report from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, on matching of DNA reports, was expected to file the charges soon.
The CBI is under pressure for an early solution of the case as the agitation was continuing in the state demanding justice for the victim and the chief minister Banerjee questioning the agency for the delay after the Calcutta High court refused her even five days’ time for investigation by the Kolkata Police expecting quick disposal of the case by the central agency.
Under fire from her political rival and the civil society, Ms Banerjee had been demanding an update from the CBI as it had not given any progress report in the investigation even after 20 days it was seized with the matter. “I asked for five days’ (for the police to probe before she called in the federal agency) but the case was sent to CBI. They don’t want justice. They want delay. It has been 20 days, where is justice?” she asked in Kolkata.
Sources said the CBI – which has recorded over 100 statements and conducted 10 polygraph tests, including two of ex-hospital chief Dr Sandip Ghosh – has no reason to believe others were involved in raping and murdering the doctor, whose body was found in a hospital room early August 9.
The agency has made three arrests of its own, the biggest of which is Dr Ghosh, who quit days after the killing on “moral grounds” but was appointed to head another state-run hospital hours later. He was arrested on Monday over alleged financial irregularities during his time as chief of the RG Kar Hospital. That case was based on a petition by an ex-employee of the hospital – Deputy Superintendent Akhtar Ali. He had accused Dr Ghosh of selling unclaimed corpses, trafficking in biomedical waste, and passing tenders against the commission paid by medicine and medical equipment suppliers. Three others were arrested too, including a security guard.
To keep the fire burning, the West Bengal BJP on Friday ramped up its ongoing protests organising a state-wide “Chakka jam” (road blockade) in demand for justice and the resignation of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Protesters voiced anger over the handling of the case and the alleged cover-up, calling for accountability from the government and the Kolkata police.
BJP workers blocked key roads across Kolkata and several districts for an hour. Demonstrators, including BJP members and supporters, burned tyres and carried placards, calling for justice for the victim and the resignation of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. In Kolkata, protesters blocked roads in areas like Shyambazar, Lake Town, VIP Road, Salt Lake, Karunamoyee, Behala, and Rajpur, among others from 1 pm to 2 pm. Similar protests were held in Birbhum, Paschim Bardhaman and Paschim Medinpur districts, where tyres were burnt, causing brief disruption to traffic movement.
The ruling Trinamool Congress, however, took upon the BJP after the CBI sources ruled out gang rape of the trainee doctor and holding Sanjay Roy responsible for the crime. In a post on X, the TMC said, “After 24 days of inaction CBI confirmed what Kolkata Police established in 24 hours… Sanjay Roy was the sole perpetrator in the RG Kar tragedy. Conspiracy theories circulated by BJP… have been exposed.”
“We now demand the chargesheet be filed and the accused be put on trial WITHOUT DELAY. Anything less is an insult to the victim’s memory!” the party declared.
Mamata Banerjee, still smarting at the High Court overruling her five-day deadline for the police before the CBI was to be summoned, has been fiercely critical of the federal agency for the delay.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain Dr Sandip Ghosh’s plea challenging the CBI investigation into the complaints of financial irregularities by him as the principal of the RG Kar medical college. The SC also disagreed to separate the two investigation, one into the horrific rape and murder and the other into the allegations of financial irregularities by him, both being investigated by the CBI.
Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers on Friday conducted simultaneous search operations at the residences of Sandip Ghosh and three of his associates in connection with alleged financial irregularities at the institute, an officer said. The raids were carried out at Mr Ghosh’s residence in Beliaghata and two locations in Howrah and Subhashgram. All four are already in CBI custody. The ED detained Prashun Chatterjee, a close aide of the former principal of RG Kar Medical College, Sandip Ghosh. The detention followed a seven-hour search operation at his residence in Subhashgram, Kolkata, linked to alleged financial irregularities during Ghosh’s tenure.
The RG Kar Hospital rape-murder case has made major headlines across the country and the world, and drawn furious protests from concerned medical professionals, gender and civil society activists and from the opposition BJP and Congress in Bengal. There have been multiple claims and allegations made, many without substance, alleging conspiracies that led to the doctor’s death and claims of her being gangraped.
As the flip-flop in the statements by the parents of the victim continued, the BJP spokesman Sambit Patra in Delhi flagged three claims raised by the doctors’ parents – that a state official bribed them to “hush up the case”; that on the morning of August 9, hours after their daughter’s body was discovered, they were forced to wait for over three hours to see the body; and that after being told of her death they were urged to sign a blank paper. “… these questions by the victim’s father are of paramount importance… because on the foundation of these questions is based the investigation and outcome of the investigation.”
Her father had on Thursday levelled the allegation of the Kolkata police having offered them money to hush up the case but soon afterwards denied any such offer only to issue another denial a few hours later that they were forced to issue the denial “under pressure” and maintained that they were offered money to hush up the case “even when my daughter’s body was still lying in our house.”
On the parents’ allegations the state has offered a more circumspect response. “Given the mental state of the parents… we will not analyse why they said this (that money had been offered) when they said something else earlier. There is no place for this (now). Whatever they, or family, are saying, we respect it…” Dr Shashi Panja, the Women and Child Development Minister, said.
Senior TMC leader Derek O’Brien also questioned the CBI regarding the status of the charge-sheet in the RG Kar hospital rape-murder case. “When is CBI filing a charge-sheet in the RG Kar hospital rape and murder case and putting the accused on trial? When?” he posted on X, while the union minister of state Sukanta Majumdar accused the TMC of trying to “hide” the case and tampering with the evidences “right from the beginning.”