Bhubaneswar: Former Trinamool Congress MLA from Panihati Nirmal Ghosh was arrested by the West Bengal Police on Thursday from a hotel in Odisha over his alleged involvement in the hurried cremation of the body of the 31-year-old resident doctor who was raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata in August 2024.
The former MLA is accused of destruction of evidence, criminal conspiracy and forcing someone to carry out an act against their will. He is being taken to Kolkata by road and is expected to be produced before a Barrackpore court on Friday.
The arrest followed a fresh FIR registered at Khardah police station based on a complaint by the victim’s father. The complaint named Ghosh along with former Panihati Municipality chairman or councillor Somnath Dey and the family’s neighbour Sanjib Mukherjee, alleging that the three forced the hurried cremation of the doctor’s body.
According to police, Ghosh fled to Odisha soon after the FIR was lodged. “He was hiding at a hotel in Puri and was using a new SIM card to elude the police. However, he was only in touch with some of his close aides. After the FIR was lodged, the police started tracking his mobile tower location on Tuesday and traced him to the hotel,” an officer from the police station was quoted as saying by The Hindu.
The development came days after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, while attending a memorial programme for the victim doctor in Panihati on Sunday, directed the Barrackpore Police Commissioner to launch a fresh probe into the alleged hasty cremation. Adhikari noted that the Central Bureau of Investigation was not examining this aspect. “The one circumstance related to this case which the CBI is not probing is the hurried cremation of the victim. Documents show that the body, which was third in queue at the crematorium, was advanced to the first spot. The signatures of the parents were not taken on the relevant documents before the cremation, and even the mandatory cremation fee was waived. I am directing Barrackpore CP to start a fresh case and take appropriate action against the accused,” he said.
On May 13, victim’s mother, Ratna Debnath, now the BJP MLA from Panihati, had also moved the Sealdah court seeking the arrest of Ghosh and the others.
According to the victim’s parents, the police initially failed to act on their complaints regarding the undue haste with which the body was cremated, an act they claim was intended to prevent a second autopsy. Ghosh was reportedly spotted at RG Kar Medical College on the evening of August 9, 2024, holding a meeting with the hospital’s then-principal, Sandip Ghosh, before accompanying the hearse and allegedly exerting pressure on the family at their residence to proceed immediately to the crematorium, the Tribune reported.
Police inquiries also indicated the body, which was third in the queue at the crematorium, was advanced to the first position, standard charges were waived, and family signatures were not taken on relevant documents.
Although civic volunteer Sanjoy Roy was previously convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime, the victim’s family and medical colleagues maintain that a broader conspiracy remains unresolved.