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Medical student's semi-naked body with injury marks found in Kolkata hospital; BJP demands CBI probe
Her father alleged that she was raped and murdered inside RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and efforts are on to hide the truth.
The body of a second-year medical student was found on Friday under suspicious circumstances inside the seminar hall of a government-run hospital in Kolkata. The deceased, a post-graduate trainee (PGT) in the chest medicine department, was found semi-naked with injury marks in the seminar hall of the hospital’s Emergency building.
"The body bore scratch marks on the cheeks, around her nose, lips, in between eyebrows, and on the neck. The marks reveal that there was some struggle," a senior police officer said.
The body has since been sent for a post-mortem examination, which authorities hope will shed light on whether the young woman was sexually assaulted before her death.
Her father said, “I am quite sure that my daughter was raped before she was murdered. The injury marks on her body are evident. She was found semi-naked. Efforts are on to hide the truth. I do not understand why they (hospital authorities) are delaying the investigation.”
The victim was on duty on Thursday night.
“She also had dinner with her juniors at around 2 AM. She then went to the seminar room since there is no separate on-call room to take some rest. In the morning, we found her body there,” PTI quoted a doctor of the hospital, who did not want to be named, as saying.
Five people, who were on duty with her, are being interrogated.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee reportedly called the woman's parents, assuring them that appropriate action would be taken against those responsible.
Health Secretary NS Nigam and Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal visited the hospital and held meetings with senior officials. The hospital administration formed a three-member panel to investigate the death.
A number of BJP leaders, including MLA Agnimitra Paul, visited the hospital and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.
"The condition in which her body was found, completely naked with bruises all over it, makes it look like she was raped and then murdered. We demand a CBI investigation," Paul said.
“You can't conduct a postmortem after the evening, but they did it here...If a postmortem is done under the state system, the truth will be buried. We want a re-postmortem by a central government hospital. This is all we demand so that she gets justice.”
A senior member of the Association of Health Service Doctors, Dr Manas Gumta, alleged that there were attempts to "suppress" the matter.
"This is unprecedented and never happened in Bengal. The most unfortunate thing is that now there are attempts to suppress fact and make it look like a case of suicide. The post-mortem examination should be conducted on camera by an expert not associated with the hospital," Gumta said.
With inputs from agencies
