MUMBAI: Amid protests across the country against the rape and murder of a Kolkata doctor, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday gave an ultimatum to the police: solve the case by Sunday, or it will be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation. “If the case is not solved by police by Sunday, then we will hand it over to the CBI,” Banerjee said during a meeting with the victim’s family members.
While the chief minister has on a number of occasions accused the CBI of acting at the behest of the BJP-led central government, she said, “However, the success rate of the central probe agency is very low.” The body of the 31-yearold doctor was found at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Friday morning. Within 24 hours, Kolkata Police arrested a civic volunteer identified as the prime suspect. Gory details over the rape and subsequent murder have sparked a nationwide protest among doctors that has, in fact, resulted in a pan-India strike.
Three PILs have been filed in the Calcutta High Court demanding a CBI probe into the incident. Questions are now being raised that why a CBI probe is being demanded when already the accused is in 14-day judicial remand. The family of the victim came out with reports trashing the earlier reports of death due to ‘suicide’ and demanding justice. The relatives accused the hospital of trying to hush up the case by reporting it to be a case of suicide initially. The police denied suicide after the post-mortem report that stated the lady doctor was first sexually assaulted and then murdered. The report said she sustained severe injuries with bleeding from the eyes, mouth, and private parts, and multiple injuries all over her body.
A police officer said that the possibility of the victim being first murdered and then raped by the accused is indicated by circumstantial evidence. “There is evidence to indicate that the doctor was alone in the seminar hall of the hospital, incubated for sleep, when he was assaulted. She tried resisting the same but was strangled to death. She was additionally smothered, and the same was presumably done to ensure she was dead. There is a likelihood that she was raped post-murder,” the officer said.
Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar termed the incident as “shameful,” demanding proper inquiry as the police first labeled it under suicide, but later it turned into a case of murder. The accused was easily able to access the hospital premises and has also been booked under Section 64 (rape) and 103 (murder) of the BNS. Reports also suggested that the accused was an outsider and can be seen moving around on the hospital premises almost daily, thereby having EZs in pretty much every part of it, raising questions over a possible security lapse.
During the investigations, it was revealed that the miscreant, Sanjay Ray, is a civic volunteer of the Kolkata Police by profession but had misused the position to commit the crime. Though a civic volunteer, Ray enjoyed all the privileges that a regular cop would, including access to a police barrack in North Kolkata. Investigations further revealed personal connections between Ray and some lower-ranking police officers.
Opposition leaders criticized the state government for forming a 11-member probe committee that included interns. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari told reporters that the panel hasn’t got any reputation and looked as if, once again, it was another attempt by the state government to rescue itself due to its negligence. He urged the medical students to hit the streets and protest the government’s indifferent attitude. He said he would support all their efforts in getting justice for the dead doctor.
BJP has also made an issue over the post-mortem procedure, claiming that it was done at night against the standard norm and procedure; it has also sought a CBI inquiry to reveal the facts. On the other hand, police reconstructed the crime scene in the absence of the accused, during which they recovered evidence such as bloodstained shoes. But the coordination has not found any clue in the involvement of any other person.
