R G Kar victim was under acute mental stress, sought help month before death: Psychiatrist

Kolkata: A consultant psychiatrist has claimed that the R G Kar hospital rape and murder victim was under acute mental stress for various reasons and had sought professional help from him around a month before her death on August 9 last year.

Long duty hours, discrimination in allotment of shifts, and the “knowledge about irregularities” in the state-run hospital had been giving the 30-year-old medic extreme mental discomfort, claimed psychiatrist Mohit Ranadip on Monday.

Talking to a leading Bengali TV channel, the mental health specialist said that if needed, he is ready to testify before the CBI, which investigated the rape-murder case.

"She had told me about 36 hours of continuous duty, discrimination in allotment of shifts in the roster, and the acute mental pressure she was in as she had seen many irregularities in the purchase of medicines and medical equipment. I asked her if everyone was given similar shifts, she replied in the negative,” Ranadip said.

The psychiatrist said he had given the post-graduate trainee (PGT) certain advice, and she was supposed to return for follow-up counselling. “However, that could not happen," Ranadip said.

The parents of the woman and a section of her colleagues had earlier claimed that she was being victimised for pointing out certain improprieties in the purchase of medicines and equipment by the hospital which she had stumbled across during her duty hours.

Dr Sandip Ghosh, the principal of the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital when the crime took place, was arrested in connection with the alleged financial irregularities in the medical establishment.

Several leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress had repeatedly stressed that the party wanted a comprehensive probe by the CBI, a central agency.

However, the party also alleged that the Left and certain groups were levelling false charges against the ruling establishment to malign the state government and the health service doctors.

The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the CBI to produce the case diary related to its investigation into the rape-murder case on the next date of hearing.

The court asked whether the central agency was considering the possibility of gang rape or the destruction of evidence in its probe.

The doctor’s body was discovered in the seminar room of the state-run hospital in north Kolkata on August 9, 2024.

Sanjay Roy, a former civic volunteer, was arrested by Kolkata Police on charges of raping and murdering her. The CBI, which took over the investigation into the case following a high court order, also made Roy the sole accused.

In January, the trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment until the end of his natural life.