Woman PG trainee found dead inside Kolkata hosp seminar hall; murder suspected
The woman, 28, was a second-year student of the chest medicine department of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital
Kolkata: A woman postgraduate trainee was found dead with injuries on her face inside the seminar hall of a state-run hospital in Kolkata, police said on Friday, suspecting she was murdered.
Police said that the woman’s parents and other doctors of the hospital suspect that she was sexually assaulted before being murdered.
The woman, 28, was a second-year student of the chest medicine department of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The incident occurred late night on Thursday or Friday early morning, said police.
“Her body was found in a half-naked condition with her spectacles broken,” the woman’s mother told media persons.
“My daughter was raped and murdered. She is gone. We can’t bring her back. At least we should get justice. We last spoke to her around 11pm on Thursday. Her body was found in semi-nude condition,” her father told the media.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was learned to have called the deceased woman’s parents and assured them of an unbiased probe.
Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal and state health secretary NS Nigam reached the hospital on Friday to inquire about the incident.
“There were some injury marks on her lips, neck, and cheeks similar to those of scratch marks. Her body was sent for an autopsy,” said a forensic official who saw the body.
“Investigation is going on. People are being questioned. CCTV footage was being checked. There was no CCTV installed in the seminar room,” said a senior police officer.
A hospital doctor told media persons that the woman was on-call duty on Wednesday. She also had dinner with her juniors and later went to the seminar room since there is no separate on-call room to take some rest.
In the morning, her body was found in the seminar room on the fourth floor of the emergency department building. A security guard first spotted the body. Her laptop, bag, and mobile were found on the spot.
“There should be a be a judicial magistrate in the autopsy team along with two PG trainees and the family members. We have also demanded that the autopsy should be videographed,” a doctor of the hospital told reporters.
Meanwhile, protests broke out in the hospital with the PG trainees and doctors of RG Kar Hospital demanding an autopsy in the presence of a judicial magistrate. They even refused to hand over the body to the police initially unless their demands were met. The hospital has also set up an 11-member probe committee to probe the incident.
The Bharatiya Janata Party also staged a demonstration alleging that the state government was trying to suppress the case.