In yet another climbdown Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday set a deadline for the police department to crack the RG Kar Medical College doctor rape and murder case but her act of bending back failed to pacify the agitating junior doctors who insisted on sustained cease work till all their demands were met throwing the health service in the entire State completely out of gear.

Mamata earlier met the parents of the victim at their Sodpur residence in the northern suburbs of Kolkata and said she would wait till Sunday for the police to crack the case failing which she would transfer the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Emerging from her meeting with the parents of the victim she said, “I am extremely shocked by the incident of a young lady doctor being killed in such a manner … this cannot be accepted… I have been told by the parents of the victim that there is an insider angle to the case… if so then I ask the police to hasten the investigation process… I give them time till Sunday to crack the case after which I will hand it over to the CBI.”

A postgraduate student of the department of chest medicine was in the wee hours of Friday found dead in a semi-nude condition inside the seminar hall of the hospital.

She was allegedly raped and murdered. After initial flip-flop — during which hospital authorities as well as a section of the cops allegedly tried to pass it off as a suicide case — the police swung into action as the news spread and students went into a combative mode and arrested one Sanjoy Roy a civic police personnel.

However referring to the postmortem reports that suggested that the victim had her collar bone, pelvic bone and fingers broken with other multiple injuries the medical fraternity erupted alleging cover-up by the Government. They said that some highly connected medical intern could be involved in the incident as Roy a lean man could not have done such crime alone.

Referring to the incident Banerjee said “I have told the police that if there is any such doubt against anyone - the victim’s friends and others - they should be questioned,” adding, “Whoever is involved in the case should be punished immediately. We want this case to be fast-tracked because then the judicial process will be quick.”

She said that the Government had removed the Head of the Department, Medical Superintendant, Principal and Vice Principal as also the Assistant Commissioner of Police attached to the Hospital

Notwithstanding her assurance, the junior doctors demanded Judicial Inquiry, comprehensive security procedure and arrest of the insiders involved in the dastardly felony.

They alleged that a topmost official of the premium medical college was involved in all kind of criminal and corrupt activities including sale in the open market of bio-medical waste generated from the hospital. This official was very close to the State’s topmost political family which was why he was thrice transferred from the college but returned to his post as many times.

“All the medical colleges and other super-specialty hospitals of the State are controlled by syndicates … these are illegal parking syndicates, bio-medical waste syndicates, black-marketing of hospital equipment and drugs, appointment rackets of the security staff … all kinds of crime they are involved in and the money … maybe tens of crores go to the highest echelon,” said Opposition BJP leadership.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan too assailed the Bengal government for the heinous crime that had taken place in the medical college.

He said that the “law and order situation, especially the safety of students under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is under question,” adding “no matter how strongly we condemn this heinous crime … The Bengal government must take action against the perpetrators and be held accountable for it.”

BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad too attacked Banerjee wondering, “Mamata ji, what is happening in Bengal under your rule? A female doctor was raped, the limit of brutality was crossed and will there be a fair investigation there?...Today, doctors from all over the country are on strike. Mamata ji, in your government, we already know what happens to the opposition during elections.”

Meanwhile, Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari filed PIL in the Calcutta High Court seeking CBI investigation into the case.