Kolkata doctor rape-murder: CBI takes accused in custody; celebrities to join massive protest tonight | Top updates
Kolkata doctor rape-murder: A CBI team visited the RG Kar Medical Hospital's seminar hall where the body of the trainee doctor was found on August 9.
Kolkata doctor rape-murder updates: Men, women, political leaders, and celebrities in West Bengal are set to take to the streets, intersections, and main roads in a massive protest against the rape and murder of a woman trainee doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday evening, August 14, on the eve of the 78th Independence Day.
On Wednesday afternoon, for the first time doctors, nurses and other staff from all big private hospitals along Kolkata's Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, including Manipal, Medica, Peerless and RN Tagore marched from Mukundapur to Ruby intersection.
The protest comes even as a team of senior Central Bureau of Investigation officers, who reached Kolkata on Wednesday morning, began its investigation into the incident.
The CBI team, which comprises medical and forensic experts, will visited the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital's seminar hall where the body of the trainee doctor was found on August 9.
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Three groups of CBI officers have been formed to investigate the matter, a central agency official said.
Also Read | Kolkata doctor-rape murder: Family narrates August 9 ‘gut-wrenching’ details; politicians react
The protesters will take to the streets in at least 45 locations across Bengal at midnight on Wednesday, The Telegraph reported.
According to the organisers in several districts, they will start gathering late on Wednesday night and the protests will continue after midnight on Independence Day, demanding freedom for Bengal’s women, it added.
A social media campaign has been urging people from all walks of life to join the protest, which is being described as ‘For women’s independence on the midnight of Independence,’ with participants encouraged to hold candles and blow conch shells, The Indian Express reported.
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Details about gathering locations—from various parts of Kolkata to other towns across Bengal—are being widely shared. Slogans such as “Justice for RG Kar", “The Night is Ours", “Reclaim the Night", “Meyera Raat er Dhokhol Koro (Women seize the night)", and “Meyera Raat er Dokhol Nao… Sankha Dhonite Bhoriye Dao (Women seize the night… fill it with the sound of conch shells)” are also circulating on WhatsApp, the IE report added.
As messages about the event have been spreading on WhatsApp and other social media platforms since Wednesday morning, leaders from both the ruling and opposition parties have expressed their intent to join this unprecedented, and so far apolitical, movement in the streets.
Trinamool MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray to join protest
Senior Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray condemned the rape and murder of the doctor and said he would hold a dharna in solidarity with a midnight protest scheduled to be organised by women on Wednesday.
Women in the eastern metropolis and districts of West Bengal are scheduled to hit the roads at midnight as a mark of protest against the killing of the trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
"Today I will sit on an individual dharna from 5 PM to 9 PM to register my protest and express my solidarity with women who will hit the streets tonight. Due to my age, I won't be able to join them at midnight but I express full support to them," Sukhendu Sekhar Ray told news agency PTI.
Last night in a post on X, the TMC MP had said he would join the protesters as he has a daughter and a granddaughter.
"Tomorrow I am going to join the protesters particularly because I have a daughter and little granddaughter like millions of Bengali families. We must rise to the occasion. Enough of cruelty against women. Let's resist together. Come what may, " he posted on the microblogging site.
Later, when a social media user posted that he might be thrown out of the party, Ray said, "Please need not worry for my fate. Blood of a freedom fighter flows in my veins. I'm least bothered."
The Calcutta high court on Tuesday ordered the transfer of the probe into the alleged rape and murder of the trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital from the Kolkata Police to the CBI.
Widespread agitation by junior doctors has crippled state healthcare services with the functioning of even emergency and outdoor departments coming to a halt in most state-run hospitals.
Accused Sanjoy Roy handed over to CBI
The Kolkata Police handed over Sanjoy Roy, who was arrested in connection with the case, to the CBI at the CGO Complex after his medical tests were conducted at the state-run SSKM Hospital.
Two CBI officers on Tuesday evening went to the Tala Police Station and took documents related to the Kolkata Police's investigation.
The court had on Tuesday directed the city police to hand over the case diary to the central probe agency by the evening, and all other documents by 10 amon August 14.
Tollywood celebrities to join protesters
Tollywood celebrities, filmmakers, and actors like Swastika Mukherjee, Prasenjit Chatterjee, Kaushik Ganguly, Srijit Mukherji, and others also announced their presence during the protests, IE reported.