Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday said that a fresh investigation has been ordered into the 2024 rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
The decision was announced at a programme held in Panihati in North 24 Parganas district to mark the second anniversary of the doctor’s death. Adhikari said the state government had ordered the new probe after receiving a request from the victim’s mother, Ratna Debnath, who is now a BJP MLA from Panihati.
“Ratna Debnath had written to me, requesting a fresh investigation. After extensive discussions with the chief secretary and a team of experts, I am announcing a fresh investigation under the Special Commission Act, 1952,” he said.
The chief minister said the investigation would be conducted under the Special Commission Act, 1952. He was sharing the stage with Debnath at the memorial programme held at Panihati Lok Sanskriti Bhaban, as reported by The New Indian Express.
Probe Into Police Lapses
Adhikari alleged that the police had failed to discharge their responsibilities in connection with the incident, which took place when the state was governed by the Trinamool Congress administration led by then chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
He also ordered a separate inquiry into alleged irregularities and lapses during the cremation of the victim. The chief minister directed the authorities to initiate immediate action against anyone found responsible.
The announcement came days after the Calcutta High Court expressed strong displeasure over the pace and progress of the Central Bureau of Investigation’s inquiry into the case. The court had observed that the agency was not conducting the investigation properly.
On Thursday, a new CBI team submitted a detailed report on the status of the probe and sought additional time to complete its investigation. The request drew a sharp response from a division bench comprising Justice Shampa Sarkar and Justice Tirthankar Ghosh.
The bench directed the agency to restart the investigation from the beginning. It asked the CBI to reconstruct the crime scene and establish the sequence of events from the beginning until the incident ended inside RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
“How long the case will remain as a sub-judice matter at a time when people are looking for justice for the incident? People will wait for how many days?” Justice Sarkar had raised questions during Thursday’s hearing.
Tributes Across Bengal
Government hospitals across West Bengal observed a two-minute silence on Sunday in remembrance of the doctor.
The state Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Sharadwat Mukherjee, along with senior officials, observed the silence at Swasthya Bhavan, the department’s headquarters in Salt Lake.
At RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in north Kolkata, doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers joined the paramilitary personnel deployed at the facility in paying tribute to the victim.
The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front, which was formed soon after the incident on 9 August two years ago to press for justice, organised a medical camp for underprivileged people at Chitpur in north Kolkata.
Members of the organisation later took out a memorial march from College Street to Esplanade. The protesters demanded proper justice for the postgraduate trainee doctor and called for the arrest and trial of all those who may have been directly or indirectly involved in the crime.
Family Alleges Wider Conspiracy
Speaking at the memorial programme, Debnath said the case should not be treated as an isolated crime and alleged that her daughter had been targeted because she had discovered sensitive information at the hospital.
“It was not only a rape incident happened two years ago at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital. She was a victim of larger conspiracy,” Debnath said, claiming, “My daughter was raped and murdered because she came to know about something highly secret matters at the hospital.”
“I hope, she will remain alive in people’s memory as a doctor but not as a ‘victim’,” the BJP legislator added.
The rape and murder of the doctor at the state-run hospital had triggered widespread protests across the country, with junior doctors, healthcare workers and civil society groups demanding accountability and better security in medical institutions.
The Sealdah sessions court convicted Sanjay Roy in the case and sentenced him to imprisonment until the end of his life. However, the victim’s parents and several of her colleagues have maintained that more people were involved in the crime.
