Kolkata horror: RG Kar director Sandip Ghosh ‘orders urgent renovation’ after incident

The West Bengal chapter of India’s ruling national Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday (September 5) alleged that the former principal of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, where the body of a young doctor was found, had ordered urgent renovation near the crime scene. Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Mazumdar also shared a letter allegedly signed by Sandip Ghosh authorising the renovation work.

Mazumdar wrote on X: “The order signed by Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College, is dated August 10, just a day after the victim’s death. Despite accusations from colleagues and protesters that he was tampering with the crime scene, the police commissioner denied it.”

The alleged letter was sent to the executive engineers of several departments of the Kolkata City Police requesting them to repair the adjoining toilets.

“I would like to inform you that there is a shortage of on-duty medical rooms and separate toilets in various departments of RGKMC&H, Kolkata. I hereby request you to immediately take necessary action as per the demand of the resident doctors of RGKMC&H,” the alleged letter read.

The opposition BJP is now alleging that the renovation was ordered to disturb the crime scene, implicating the director in the tragic rape and murder case. These allegations are further supported by the fact that the hospital authorities initially tried to downplay the incident as a suicide. Moreover, the victim’s father had to wait for at least three hours before he was allowed to see the body.

Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the federal agency probing the case, had also told the Supreme Court that the crime scene may have been “disturbed”.

Attorney General Tushar Mehta, who represented the CBI, also pointed out the delay in submitting the report.

“On the fifth day of the investigation, everything changed, including the crime scene,” he said.

“The most shocking fact is that the first FIR was registered at 11.45 pm after the cremation. The parents were told that it was a suicide, then a death and then the doctor’s friends at the hospital insisted on a videography. They also suspected that something was wrong,” Mehta said.

The CBI also blamed the hospital administration for mishandling the sensitive issue.

(With agency guidance)