The Health Department of Bengal had prior knowledge of the demolition of a portion of the seminar hall of the RG Kar Medical College Hospital undertaken barely a couple of days after the body of a brutally raped and murdered lady doctor of the Chest Medicine Department was found in a semi-nude condition in the small hours of August 9. The Central Bureau of Administration investigating the case had earlier told the Court that the demolition of a portion of the doctors' rest room and the attached washroom adjacent to the seminar hall might have led to the destruction of vital evidences in the case.

A letter written by Sandip Ghosh now arrested former principal of the RGKMCH --- to the Executive Engineer (civil and electrical) of the Public Works Department shows that he had ordered the demolition of the stated areas of the hospital following a meeting with the State Health Secretary and Director Medical Education.

Curiously, when the Health Secretary was asked by the media on the day of the partial demolition of the alleged doctors' rest room he said that" an inquiry is under progress and things can be ascertained only after that."

The letter which read," I would like to inform you that there is a deficiency of on-duty doctors' rooms and separate attached toilets in various departments of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata. You are hereby requested to do the needful immediately as per the demand of resident doctors of the hospital. The issue has already been discussed and resolved in the meeting with the Principal Secretary, Department of Health & Family Welfare Government of West Bengal and Director of Medical Education, Department of Health & Family Welfare Government of West Bengal today in the board room of the hospital. Please do the needful immediately." The subject of the letter highlighted" Repair/renovation/reconstruction of on-duty doctors' rooms along with separate attached toilets in all departments of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata on urgent basis," apparently emphasizing the urgency of the matter.

The emergence of the letter written by the former Principal Ghosh tends to stand clearly in contrast with the statement of the Health Secretary, said senior doctor Subir Ganguly adding, the letter suggests that the Health Department was clearly in the know of the demolition process being carried out at the place of occurrence."

On Thursday Health Department sources conceded that there indeed had been a meeting featuring the top Department officials but the discretion to renovate certain areas of the Hospital to construct a doctors' restroom was completely left on the Principal.

Referring to the incident former CBI Joint Director Upen Biswas cracked the Bihar Animal Husbandry scam case in the nineties --- Hospital authorities but also the police to explain their conduct... who led the team that It is not only for the if the investigators take up this point seriously then many heads are likely to roll... as the police should have cordoned off the area and had disallowed any kind of addition or alteration in the structure."

Dr Subarno Ganguli one of the senior doctors who had raised the question of the propriety of the postmortem being conducted inside the same hospital where the incident took place wondered," who the people are that the authorities are trying to save."

Advocate Tarun Jyoti of the Calcutta High Court said that" in a system where it takes months often years for the PWD to act... how could the demolition work ensue in such a lightning speed within a few hours of the body of the victim being discovered," adding the principal' s letter itself buttresses the claim of the junior doctors of the hospital that there were more people involved in the crime."

Bengal had been up in flames against the rape and murder of the lady doctor with the citizenry demanding the arrest of all the accused possibly involved in the felony.

Notwithstanding the arrest of Sanjoy Rai a civic volunteer attached to the Kolkata Police was arrested for perpetrating the crime experts have expressed doubt on whether a lean and lanky person" like him could have executed the crime alone particularly in consideration of the injuries that had been suffered by the victim doctor.

The junior doctors who had gone on a cease work after too have alleged that the police administration and the hospital authorities were trying to shield some influential people that could have been involved in the crime.