Pointing to the renovation work that began after the incident, at an area just a few feet away from the seminar room where the doctor’s body was found on Friday morning, CPI(M)-affiliated Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) on Tuesday gathered at the gate of the hospital’s Emergency building to protest what they alleged was an attempt to destroy evidence and “hide the real culprits”.
Meanwhile, a doctor associated with the Left-affiliated Joint Forum of Doctors claimed that certain findings in the postmortem report suggested that the victim may have been raped by more than one person.
Doctor Subarna Goswami, who was with the family of the victim when they saw the postmortem report, said, “It is clear that this is not the work of a single individual… she was gangraped.”
Police have arrested a civic volunteer, Sanjay Roy, in connection with the 31-year-old doctor’s rape and murder.
The case has sent shockwaves across the country, prompting protests by doctors at several hospitals.
DYFI state secretary Minakshi Mukherjee, who was taking part in the protsts at R G Kar Medical College on Tuesday, said: “We believe that the TMC government is trying to hide the real culprits. We will not allow the hospital and medical college authorities to tamper with evidence in the case. They are continuously trying to do that.”
According to sources, hospital authorities had on Saturday ordered the demolition of a room and a nearby women’s toilet – both of which were just a few feet away from the seminar room – to build a rest area.
They said this was done in response to students’ demand for a rest area in the Chest Medicine department.
However, the demolition order coming just a day after the body of the doctor was found has led to allegations that authorities were trying to tamper with evidence.
BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, said, “They have already tampered with a lot of evidence. The CBI has to take the case immediately. We have already demanded the resignation of Mamata Banerjee, who is both Chief Minister and the state Home Minister.”
Hospital authorities could not be reached for comment.
A police officer posted at R G Kar Medical College said, “On Tuesday morning, a team from the National Commission for Women came to see the PO (place of occurrence of the crime). They protested after seeing that construction work was going on near the crime scene. Soon after that, SFI-DYFI supporters started to protest.”
Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, the counsel for the victim’s family and a CPI(M) leader, said: “Without the help of the PWD (Public Works Department) and the state government’s green signal, medical college authorities cannot demolish or construct anything. Hence, it is clear that the state government was behind the move.”
BJP and CPI(M) leaders have been alleging over the last few days that the arrested accused, Sanjay Roy, was not the only one involved in the rape and murder of the doctor. They have alleged that the TMC was trying to shield the others involved.
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