Blue or Green?: Kolkata Police on viral bedsheet colour change claims in doctor's rape-murder

The police, however, confirmed that they had also seized a red coloured cloth from the crime scene which belonged to the victim.

Kolkata Police issued a strong denial on Thursday regarding claims circulating on social media and television channels that the colour of the bed sheet used to cover the body of the trainee doctor, who was allegedly raped and murdered, had been changed during the investigation.

The case of the trainee doctor's alleged rape and murder has sparked nationwide protests and intense scrutiny of the investigation.(Samir Jana / HT)

Addressing the media, Indira Mukherjee, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of the Central Division, Kolkata Police, dismissed the claims as baseless.

"Today, we have seen that there are few video clips which are viral on social media as well as in some television channels wherein there is a discussion that probably the colour of the curtain bed sheet which was used to cover the body was of a different colour than the previously declared color that was blue," she said.

Mukherjee asserted that the police had meticulously documented the crime scene, starting their photography and videography session at around 12:25pm on the day of the incident.

The photography and videography were done in phases, not only during the seizure process but during the inquest, as well as when the forensic team arrived. During this time, whatever records are available with us, I can unequivocally say that the colour of the bed sheet that was used to cover the body was blue in colour," she said.

The controversy was sparked by some news channel reports, which claimed that the colour of the bed sheet covering the victim's body had mysteriously changed.

According to the reports, junior doctors and the victim's parents provided conflicting accounts of the sheet's colour. The junior doctors stated that the body was covered with a blue sheet, but the parents claimed they saw a green sheet when they viewed their daughter's body hours later.

"We have no evidence of any green sheet in our photo and video records. It was always blue," the officer said.

Mukherjee, however, confirmed that the police had also seized a red coloured cloth from the crime scene which belonged to the victim and with which she covered herself before dozing off inside the hospital's chest department seminar room that fateful night.

The victim's father accused the police and hospital authorities of tampering with evidence, alleging that the position of his daughter's body and the colour of the sheet had been altered.

"Indira Mukherjee does not know anything. She was not there," TV9 Bharatvarsh quoted him as saying.

The tragic case of the trainee doctor's alleged rape and murder has sparked nationwide protests and intense scrutiny of the investigation. The doctor was found dead with severe injury marks in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College on August 9, where she had gone to rest during her night shift. The case was transferred from Kolkata Police to the CBI following an order from the Calcutta High Court.

Adding to the controversy, three audio recordings of phone calls made by RG Kar Medical College authorities to the victim's parents on the morning of August 9 have surfaced, raising questions about the hospital's handling of the situation. In these calls, the hospital's assistant superintendent is heard giving conflicting statements about the victim's condition, initially stating that she was "a little ill" and later suggesting she "may have died by suicide."

DC (Central) Indira Mukherjee said the purported clips only vindicated police's claim on who passed the "suicide" information to the parents.

"We have been saying all thorough that Kolkata Police never informed the parents that the victim died by suicide. These audio clips only confirm what we have been maintaining so far," she said.