RG Kar: Ex-TMC MLA arrested after CM intervention
The police on Thursday arrested former Trinamool Congress MLA and powerful North 24 Parganas leader Nirmal Ghosh for his alleged involvement in the “hurried cremation” of the victim of RG Kar Medical College rape and murder case.
The arrest was made days after Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced during a memorial programme of the victim that not one person involved in the case would be spared. “Within the limited jurisdiction I have in this case, I am committed to that cause. We have not forgotten Abhaya, not forgotten her at all,” the Chief Minister had said.
Ghosh was picked up from Sambalpur in Odisha and was being brought to Kolkata, sources said, adding his arrest was based upon a fresh complaint made by the father of the victim on Monday. The father of the victim named two other persons also. They include TMC’s former Panihati Municipality chairman, Somnath Dey, and the family’s neighbour, Sanjib Mukherjee. Thursday’s development comes amid reports of an on-duty nurse found dead under mysterious circumstances inside the washroom of NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
Then a sitting MLA, Ghosh, in connivance with some other influential persons of Panihati in North 24 Parganas, had allegedly hijacked the body of the victim soon after the postmortem, ignoring the demand by her family members and protesters for a second postmortem at a “neutral venue.” The postmortem was conducted post-sundown and inside the same hospital where she was murdered in utter defiance of the established Supreme Court guidelines.
Symbolically known as “Abhaya” in Bengal, the victim was a lady doctor pursuing her postgraduate course at RG Kar Medical College. She was raped and murdered in the night intervening August 9 and 10 of 2024, sending ripples throughout the country, making international headlines.
While one, Sanjay Rai, a civic volunteer, was awarded life sentence as the sole accused in the case, some other persons, including Sandip Ghosh the then Principal of the College and a police inspector and two doctors, were subsequently arrested and facing trial for associated offences.
The Chief Minister had already suspended top police officials, including then Kolkata Commissioner of Police Vineet Goyal and two other IPS officers for dereliction of duty and offering cash to the victim’s kin.
Nirmal Ghosh’s son Tirthankar was arrested on July 13 for his involvement in post 2024 elections violence. The senior Ghosh too was named in a number of other cases, including post poll violence and a lottery fraud case.
Reacting to Thursday’s development, BJP MLA Sourav Sikdar said that “the arrest of such powerful persons itself proves that the police had been freed from the shackles, unlike in the previous (Mamata Banerjee) regime when they had to hid beneath the table. With the BJP and honourable Suvendu Adhikari in power, the police have started doing what they should do.” Another MLA Sajal Ghosh said, “BJP Government will do whatever it can to bring the guilty to justice.”
Thursday’s development comes amid reports of yet another mysterious death inside another medical college in Kolkata. Rupali Burman, an on-duty nurse, was on Wednesday night found dead inside a washroom of the NRS Medical College and Hospital.
The 30-year-old Rupali Burman was found dead inside the washroom of the Gynaecology Department’s High Dependency Unit (HDU). Joint CP Crime Kunal Agarwal said that the matter was noticed around 10.30 at night, adding she was found inside the bathroom, which was closed from inside and the doors had to be broken open.
“No suicide has been established so far. The forensic team will conduct investigation and CCTV footage is also being investigated,” he said, adding three injection vials were found beside her person.
