The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday arrested Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, and a Kolkata Police official on charges of destruction of evidence after the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the state-run health facility last month.
Apart from Ghosh, who has earlier been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over financial Irregularities at the hospital, CBI also picked up Abhijit Mandal, the station house officer of the nearby Tala police station for alleged delay in filing of FIR and missing evidence in the case. Mandal sent teams to the crime scene after the 31-year-old doctor’s body was discovered in the fourth-floor seminar room of the hospital on August 9.
#WATCH | West Bengal: Abhijit Mondal, officer-in-charge of Tala police station taken for medical testAbhijit Mondal and ex-principle Sandip Ghosh were arrested by the CBI in Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College rape-murder case of a trainee doctor pic.twitter.com/jrakg9kKxL
— ANI (@ANI) September 14, 2024
“The policeman has been questioned eight times earlier and every time he gave different versions. He has been arrested and will be produced in the court tomorrow,” the CBI officer told PTI.
He was taken to a hospital for the customary post-arrest medical test.
Kolkata Police arrested one person, a civic volunteer who had easy access to the hospital, but the Calcutta high court handed over the probe to CBI amid allegations of evidence destruction and cover-up. The central agency has pointed to the lack of evidence in the Supreme Court as well.
The CBI found Ghosh’s claim suspicious that he got to know about the crime at 10:20 am. The probe agency believed that Mandal and Ghosh lied in narrating sequence of events.
The trainee doctor was discovered dead in the morning with her parents filing a complaint by 6:00 pm on August 9. However it was only around 11:45 pm (after the post mortem was done) that the FIR was registered. The probe agency had also told the Supreme Court earlier that the place of occurrence had been altered.
The probe agency’s suspicion grew further after the arrested accused Sanjay Roy refused his consent for Narco test after he nodded for it. Later a Kolkata court rejected the application to conduct Narco analysis test on Roy.
Sources said that two more police personnel are under the scanner of the probe agency.
Reactions On Ghosh’s Arrest
Union Minister and Bengal BJP Chief Sukanta Majumdar reacted on the arrest of RG Kar’s ex-principal saying that it was the demand of the people of Bengal.
“The arrest of Sandip Ghosh and SHO in rape and murder case is demand of the people of Bengal”, he said to News18.
#WATCH West Bengal: On the arrest of former principal of RG Kar Medical College Sandip Ghosh and Tala Police Station In-charge Abhijit Mandal by CBI, Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar says, “The arrests made today are very important. Especially the arrest of the Station In-charge… pic.twitter.com/y7TmdwJCFy— ANI (@ANI) September 14, 2024
He further demanded the resignation of state chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal.
“Kolkata CP Vineet Goyal is really shameless that’s why he is occupying his chair. He should have resigned long ago and this is the time I think to demand resignation from Mamata Banerjee,” he said.
A protesting junior doctor said, “We have been demanding the arrest of the former principal of the college Sandip Ghosh and Abhijit Mondal, officer-in-charge of Tala police station for their involvement in tampering with the evidence. We are very happy as the CBI has arrested them. CBI should arrest others also who have tampered with the evidence…”
West Bengal LoP and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari also reacted to the arrests and said that the procedural lapses were well orchestrated and closely monitored by the top officials of Kolkata Police.
“The arrest of Abhijit Mondal; Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Tala Police Station (PS), has established that the Police were directly involved in tampering evidence and acted as a stimulant to create lacuna in order to derail the investigation into the Rape and Murder of the RG Kar PGT Lady Doctor. The procedural lapses were well orchestrated and closely monitored by the top officials of @KolkataPolice. @CPKolkata Vineet Goyal should be suspended immediately and Home Minister Mamata Banerjee must resign as she doesn’t have any moral authority left to continue as the head of the Home Dept,” he said on X.
The arrest of Abhijit Mondal; Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Tala Police Station (PS), has established that the Police were directly involved in tampering evidence and acted as a stimulant to create lacuna in order to derail the investigation into the Rape and Murder of the RG Kar PGT…— Suvendu Adhikari (@SuvenduWB) September 14, 2024
TMC leader Santanu Sen also appreciated the arrest of Ghosh and said, “I was the first to speak out against this outrageously corrupt man. I was right. God proved it once more today.”
Victim’s Parents Allegations Against Cops
Earlier, the parents of the deceased doctor accused the police of ‘removing the evidence’.
“Police have tried to remove evidence from the very first… Police never cooperated. If they would have helped us then we could have justice,” the father of the trainee doctor had said.
They also highlighted on several occasions that they believe that there is something bigger at play and have expressed their dissatisfaction over how the state police handled the case.
Supreme Court Questions Delay In FIR
The Supreme Court, which took suo moto cognisance of the case, pointed out the delay of “at least 14 hours” in registering the FIR in the heinous crime. The top court also asked the authorities about the chronology and timings of the events related to the case and expressed doubts over actions taken.
What police said Kolkata Police chief Vineet Goyal had said a case of unnatural death was filed. “Unnatural death case is a natural process. Murder is an unnatural death. When there is no immediate complaint, you have to do an inquest. An inquest is preceded by an unnatural death case. So, I don’t see why it is being said that by registering an unnatural death case, we wanted to hush up the matter and make it look like a suicide case.”
It appears crime was detected in early hours, medical college principal tried to pass it off as suicide, and asked what were hospital authorities doing,” a bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said.
Ghosh served as principal of RG Kar Hospital from February 2021 to September 2023. He was transferred from the medical establishment in October that year but inexplicably returned to that position within a month.
A postgraduate trainee doctor was raped and killed while she was on night shift by RG Kar Medical College and Hospital last month triggering nationwide protests and ‘cease work’ by junior doctors.