West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday said three IPS officers have been suspended on charges of mishandling the RG Kar doctor rape and murder case. Vineet Goyal, the then Kolkata Police Commissioner, Abhishek Gupta, the then Deputy Commissioner of Police (North), and Indira Mukherjee, Deputy Commissioner of Police (central), have been suspended.
CM Adhikari, at a press conference in Nabanna, alleged that the officers were involved in offering bribes to the family and conducting press conferences without written orders. Departmental proceedings will be initiated against the three IPS officers, he said.
Adhikari said that while CBI is investigating the RG Kar rape-murder case, the state government had looked into the police action after the crime. “After preliminary investigation, we are suspending three IPS officers because, during an investigation, they should not be on duty. They will be given an opportunity to present their side,” the Chief Minister said.
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The incident occurred on August 9, 2024. A junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital was found dead in the hospital building, inside a seminar hall. A 33-year-old civic volunteer, Sanjay Roy, was arrested by Kolkata Police on suspicion of raping and murdering her. The case was later transferred to the CBI.
The incident sparked nationwide protests, with demands for justice for the victim.
The mother of the victim later fought the recently concluded Bengal elections from the Panihati seat on a BJP ticket and won.
Dispensing justice for the RG Kar victim was among the top promises of the BJP before the assembly polls.
A trial court on January 20, 2025, sentenced Roy to life imprisonment after convicting him in the case. However, the doctor’s family has been alleging that he was not alone in committing the crime.
The family in April this year told Calcutta High Court that they had gathered information on several aspects, which were not adequately examined by the CBI and the state police. They stated that a forensic expert’s opinion suggests that multiple individuals may have been present at the time of the incident.