RG Kar doctor rape-murder: Department head says suicide angle to victim's parents was wrong

The head of RG Kar Medical College's chest department, where a trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered, stated on Wednesday that it was incorrect to inform the parents of the postgraduate trainee that she had died by suicide. Arunava Dutta Chowdhury, who took over as HoD on Aug 1, told the Times of India that he was not present, though, when an assistant superintendent of the hospital called the woman’s parents.

“I was not present when the call was made so I don’t know what had prompted him to say that. But it was not right. The hospital authorities should have filed an FIR,” he said.

Dutta Chowdhury stated that he obtained the contact information of the woman's parents and forwarded it to a female assistant superintendent. However, the female assistant superintendent did not make the call; instead, it was Dwaipayan Biswas, another assistant superintendent, who reached out to them. Biswas is currently being questioned by the police.

“I was not the first to see the body. I came to know about it after I reported for work. The seminar hall was cordoned off by police by then,” Dutta Chowdhury said, adding: “Whoever is involved should be punished.”

He added that a room opposite the seminar hall, where the PG trainee was raped and murdered, has been partly demolished and work was on till Tuesday when it was stopped after Women’s Rights Commission members intervened.

“The room was being reconstructed for the convenience of PG trainees who needed a better resting place. So, we had sought their opinion on how the rooms should be designed. The work was approved by then principal Sandip Ghosh and was being supervised by the executive engineer of PWD. It was not within my authority or responsibility to stop it,” said Dutta Chowdhury.

On Thursday, the CBI Special Crime Branch Kolkata summoned five doctors for interrogation in connection with the case. Suspended MSVP Sanjay Vashisth, HOD Chest Dept Arunava Dutta Choudhary, Associate Professor of Forensic Medicine Rina Das, Molly Banerjee and Apurba Biswas from Forensic Medicine Department were summoned by CBI.

The Kolkata police detained nine individuals after a night of violence and vandalism at the ground floor of the Emergency building in Kolkata's R G Kar Medical College and Hospital. The nurses, seeking adequate security on the premises, expressed their dismay at the situation. One of the nurses told PTI, "Such acts of hooliganism within a hospital are utterly unacceptable."

Meanwhile, people across the party lines had hit the streets in protest against the rape and murder of a junior doctor.