Kolkata, May 15 (PTI) Acting on the BJP’s pre-poll promise of reopening the RG Kar hospital rape-murder case files, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday suspended three senior IPS officers for their alleged mishandling and dereliction of duty during the initial phase of investigation into the crime.
Announcing the decision at the state secretariat, Adhikari said disciplinary action had been initiated against former Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, and ex-deputy commissioners Indira Mukherjee and Abhishek Gupta in the wake of a departmental probe initiated against them.
The chief minister said the officers were allegedly involved in “mishandling” of the case, “offering money to the victim’s parents as a bribe” and holding an “unauthorised press conference” in connection with the crime, which took place on August 9, 2024 at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor was found raped and murdered.
Adhikari clarified that the state government would stay away from the actual investigation of the crime — which is being conducted by the CBI and remains pending in court — and focus on the initial phases of investigation conducted by Kolkata Police before the central agency took over.
A civic volunteer of the city police, Sanjoy Roy, was convicted as the main perpetrator of the crime and sentenced to life, although widespread perceptions of a “larger conspiracy” involving influential people and a “state-sponsored cover-up” of the ghastly act continue to dominate the public sphere.
The CM said the disciplinary proceedings and departmental inquiry of the suspected officers, to be completed within a stipulated time frame, will be spearheaded by the state home secretary, Sanghamitra Ghosh, under the guidance of chief secretary Manoj Agarwal.
“The disciplinary action against the officers is based on an initial fact-finding exercise conducted by the chief secretary and home secretary on my orders. We decided to suspend the three officers to ensure the inquiry remains impartial,” Adhikari, who doubles up as the state home minister, said.
“We are only looking at the role of the Kolkata Police and its alleged mishandling of the case. We will check whether a disciplined force like the police played an appropriate part in filing the FIR and so on. We will be looking at the possible role of the previous government in the phone call records and Whatsapp chats of suspects. Besides questioning the suspects, we may also talk to the victim’s parents, if required,” the CM said.
Vineet Goyal was the Kolkata Police commissioner at the time of the RG Kar incident and was among those who reached the scene of the crime after the murder was discovered.
The victim’s parents had alleged tampering of the place of occurrence (PO), with unauthorised persons vitiating the spot, and had raised concerns after an adjacent area near the seminar room in the hospital’s chest medicine department was broken down citing renovation.
Later that month, Indira Mukherjee, then DC (central division), had addressed a press conference refuting those charges by the victim’s parents, insisting the space was properly cordoned off.
“The officer who addressed the press conference was neither the spokesperson of the city police nor of the state home department. The officer organised and addressed the media briefing without an official sanction. The tone and tenor of her address in that media briefing were disrespectful towards women and to the idea of their empowerment. Whether she acted under verbal instructions from the government will be part of the probe,” Adhikari said.
In early September that year, the victim’s grieving parents alleged that the police had made repeated attempts from the very beginning to suppress the case.
They claimed they were initially denied the opportunity to see their daughter’s body and were kept waiting at the police station while it was taken for post-mortem examination. Later, when the body was finally handed over to them, they alleged that a senior police official offered them money, which they immediately refused.
Referring to alleged attempted bribery, Adhikari said, “The victim’s parents claimed two senior officers had reached their house and offered them money on behalf of the government. This charge needs to be probed.” Stating that the incident of Abhaya, the pseudonym accorded to the victim, had “shaken Bengal from its roots” and “stripped the state of its honour and dignity”, the chief minister declared that additional measures would be taken in future in connection with the case. PTI SCH SMY RBT SMY MNB
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.