Parents of R G Kar hospital victim being used by those who conspire against Bengal govt: TMC's Kunal Ghosh

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh on Saturday alleged that the parents of the R G Kar hospital victim are being "used" by the forces which want to "defame, malign and plot conspiracy against the Mamata Banerjee government".

His comment comes a day after the parents of the deceased doctor at the R G Kar hospital said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cannot disown the responsibility for the alleged attempt of the police and hospital authorities to destroy evidence of rape and murder of their daughter.

They attempted to shield the “main conspirators” behind the crime, while the CBI failed to bring to book all the perpetrators and overlooked the larger conspiracy aspect, the parents claimed on Friday.

Ghosh alleged, "The parents of the deceased doctor are being used by forces which want to defame, malign and plot conspiracy against the Mamata Banerjee government and derail the process to ensure justice for the woman medic. Please don't let yourself be used by any quarter." From day one, the parents have been giving contradictory statements on the issue, the TMC leader claimed.

"One day they are criticising the Kolkata Police which had ensured the identification of the key perpetrator of the heinous crime and his arrest. The next day they are slamming the CBI which had taken over the investigation following a Calcutta High Court order," Ghosh said.

The parents had prayed for handing over the probe to the CBI at the court and now they are blaming the CM who had advocated capital punishment to the guilty and gave a free hand to state police to bring those involved to book, the TMC leader said.

"There are camps or organisations which have their interests and want to fish in troubled waters. We understand your (the parents') pain and anguish. We are all with you but please don't let yourself be used by any party with a vested interest," he added.

In response to Ghosh's comment, the father of the medic told reporters on Saturday, "We have not been used by any quarter. We have lost everything. We only wish that justice is done to our daughter before our death." "Everyone - Kolkata Police, the hospital administration and people's representatives from the TMC - played an active role to hush up the ghastly incident so that truth does not come to light,” the deceased medic’s mother told a Bengali TV channel on Friday.

The body of the 31-year-old post-graduate trainee was found in a semi-naked state in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9 last year. The trial court on January 20 sentenced Sanjay Roy, the lone convict, to life imprisonment till death in the rape-murder case.

"The CM cannot disown the failure of the Kolkata Police, hospital and the administration,” the mother of the deceased had said.

The chief minister also holds the police and health portfolios.

“The CM has to explain why the crime scene could not be sealed and the evidence was tampered with by the entry of a large number of onlookers. She has to explain why from the footage of 68 people moving in the area on August 9 morning till midday, only one person Sanjay Roy was identified as the sole perpetrator of the crime?” her mother had said.

She claimed while the CBI did not act on the issue of alleged suppression of facts, the state administration failed to protect a woman medic at her workplace, and later tried to hide the larger conspiracy aspect of the crime.