Kolkata doctor rape-murder: Mamata's ultimatum to Police to solve case as protests continue, spreads to other states

Kolkata: As the protests over the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor in a hospital run by the West Bengal government continued and spread to other states, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Monday gave an ultimatum to Kolkata Police to solve the case by next Monday.

Banerjee visited the residence of the victim and met her parents. The chief minister later told journalists that if the Kolkata Police could not show “considerable progress” in the investigation, the state government would hand over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The victim’s body, with multiple injuries, was found at the Seminar Hall of the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital early on Friday.

A ‘civic volunteer’ – one of the contractual employees appointed to help the police – was arrested on the same day for allegedly murdering the postgraduate trainee doctor after sexually arresting her at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

The parents of the victims conveyed to the chief minister their suspicion that their daughter might have fallen prey to a conspiracy. The agitating doctors also expressed doubt if the arrested civic volunteer had acted alone or had had other accomplices.

The protest by the junior doctors of the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital against the incident, however, continued. It spread to other hospitals and medical colleges, not only in West Bengal but also in other states. The agitation by the junior doctors demanding a thorough investigation by police into the rape and murder of their colleague and an overhaul of the security systems in the hospital, along with adequate protection for healthcare professionals disrupted the medical services in several government-run hospitals across the state. The protesters also demanded adequate compensation for the families of the victim.

“I want the police to arrest the culprits as soon as possible. If they are unable to crack the case by Sunday, we will hand it over to the CBI. I don’t have an issue with the central agency taking over, but its success rate is low,” said Banerjee, who had earlier said that the state government would seek the death penalty for the accused if he was convicted by the court.

The chief minister reiterated on Monday that she had asked the officials to speed up the trial by moving it to a fast-track court.

The police investigators zeroed in on the ‘civic volunteer’ after analysing the CCTV footage and finding a part of his headphone on the scene of the rape and murder.

The arrested civic volunteer was not posted in the hospital, but he was known to be a frequent visitor to the healthcare facility. He was presented before the judge of a court, which remanded him to police custody till August 23.

“I have told the police that if there is any such doubt against anyone – the victim’s friends and others – should be questioned,” said the chief minister, who was accompanied by the Kolkata Police commissioner Vineet Goyal during her visit to the residence of the victim’s parents.

Police widened the ambit of the probe late in the evening on Monday and interrogated some of the colleagues of the victims, including the ones who had dinner with her before she went to take a break at the seminar room, and other employees of the hospital.

A two-member team of the National Commission for Women (NCW) arrived in Kolkata on Monday to meet Goyal and the family members of the victim.

Sandip Ghosh, the principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, resigned from his post and government service on Monday, after being accused by the agitating doctors of failing to ensure the security of the healthcare professionals. He, however, was appointed as the principal of the National Medical College by the evening. Suhrita Pal was appointed as the new principal of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.