Kolkata rape-murder: CBI probe shouldn’t lead to case being buried, says TMC's Derek O'Brien

NEW DELHI: TMC leaders on Friday said the public outrage and outpouring of grief over the rape and murder of a woman trainee doctor in Kolkata is understandable but the CBI taking over the case shouldn’t lead to it "being quietly buried". TMC leaders also warned of "fake propaganda" going around in social media on the rape-murder incident. In a post on X, Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien said, "It is hard to conceive of a more bestial, heinous crime than the murder and rape of a young woman that took place in Kolkata. The public outrage is entirely understandable. Thoughts and prayers with her family," the Rajya Sabha MP said in a post on X. O'Brien also said the CBI, which is currently probing the case, should give daily updates on the investigation, and added that the probe should be completed before August 17.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee led a protest rally from Moulali to Dorina crossing in Kolkata, demanding justice for the woman doctor. Explaining the reason Banerjee decided to hold the rally, O'Brien said, “CBI, which is now handling the case, must give daily updates on the investigation... The deadline given by the CM to Kolkata Police to complete the investigation was August 17. The same must apply to CBI." "Kolkata Police has arrested one accused. Justice will happen only when CBI nabs all involved and sends case to a fast-track court," he said on X. "CBI taking over the case shouldn’t lead to it being quietly buried," the TMC leader said. O'Brien said the urgent need of the hour is swift justice and harshest punishment for the culprits. "No one who committed this barbaric act must be spared," he added. The TMC MP also said action would be taken against those who ransacked the RG Kar Hospital. "The police have arrested 19 people," he said.

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TMC leader Mahua Moitra, in a video post on X, extended solidarity to the "outpouring of real grief and fear on the streets". But it is necessary to separate facts from false propaganda," the Lok Sabha MP said. “Number one, there is a figure of 150 grams of bodily fluids being floated around by the media. The first thing to remember is that the autopsy, the post-mortem was carried out in the presence of a judicial magistrate, in the presence of three doctors as witnesses, and in the presence of the family. The entire procedure was videographed. It was not possible to tamper with anything,” Moitra said in her post. “In any autopsy or post-mortem, the weight and situation of each particular organ is commented upon, like the liver, the heart. Similarly in this case ...the total weight of the inner and outer genitalia was something close to 150 grams… bodily fluids are measured in millilitres, not in grams,” she said. She said 150 gms was the total weight of the internal viscera of the reproductive organs. “It has nothing to do with any amount of bodily fluids found,” the TMC MP added.

Moitra refuted claims that the crime scene was tampered with and that some construction activities were being carried out at the spot. She said the crime scene was sealed off by the police “immediately after the crime came to light.” “Please understand the facts surrounding this. The crime scene, the PO, the place of occurrence was sealed off by the police immediately after the crime came to light... Calcutta police and CBI are the only people who can access that. It is secured,” she said. After the incident, the health secretary came to the spot and met with doctors and students, who said that they needed a rest area and toilets to be constructed immediately, she said. “The superintendent engineer was asked without delay on behalf of the students to go and construct this. This is why the work started there to construct the toilets and the rest area in keeping with the students demands at a place of their choosing,” the TMC leader said. “This is not the place of occurrence or the PO or the crime scene, which was completely separate.” She also dismissed the claim that there was somehow an inquiry committee set up to investigate the mental health or the psychiatric condition of the victim. “This is complete and utter rubbish.

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After the 9th of August, when the FIR was filed and the police took over the investigation, an internal administrative committee board was set up as a normal standard operating procedure in any situation like this to see if there were any lapses on the part of the hospital,” Moitra said. She said the five-member inquiry committee had a chairperson who was the dean of student affairs and the convener was the head of the department of anatomy. Three other members were the head of the department of medicine, another HOD of anatomy and the head of the department of psychiatry. “This was only to look into administrative lapses and to see an internal inquiry as a standard operating procedure,” she said. A postgraduate trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered while on duty at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9.

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A civic volunteer was arrested in connection with the crime the next day. Unidentified miscreants entered the premises of the hospital shortly after midnight on Thursday and vandalised portions of the medical facility, where the body of a woman doctor was found last week. The vandalism took place amid midnight protests by women against the rape-murder incident.