Kolkata, Aug 11 (IANS) The Barrackpore Police Commissionerate in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district has registered a fresh FIR and launched a new investigation into allegations surrounding the hurried cremation of the RG Kar rape and murder victim at a crematorium in Panihati in August 2024.

The FIR was registered at Khardah Police Station on the basis of a complaint filed by the victim’s father. Three persons have been named in the complaint: former Trinamool Congress MLA and ex-Chief Whip of the party in the Assembly, Nirmal Ghosh; Panihati Municipality councillor Somnath Dey; and Sanjeev Mukherjee, a neighbour of the victim’s family.

The move follows directions issued by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari during a programme at Panihati on August 8 to mark the second death anniversary of the junior doctor.

The victim’s body was found in a seminar room at state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9, 2024. Investigations later confirmed that she had been raped and murdered the previous night, August 8.

The victim’s family members and junior doctors had alleged that both the postmortem and cremation were conducted in undue haste. They claimed the body was cremated at a Panihati crematorium without the signature of any family member and that cremation charges were waived.

According to the complaint, the cremation was carried out under the supervision of the three individuals named in the FIR. It further alleges that the haste in conducting the cremation may have been intended to prevent any possibility of a second autopsy.

Announcing the fresh probe on August 8, the Chief Minister had said that questions remained unanswered regarding the circumstances of the cremation, including the waiver of charges and the absence of a family member’s signature.

“The role of three persons named Nirmal Ghosh, Somnath Dey and Sanjeev Mukherjee in the cremation ground where the body of the woman junior doctor was cremated needs to be investigated. I have ordered the registration of a new case separately and to investigate the matter, apart from the count-monitored Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). I have asked the Barrackpore Police Commissioner to take necessary steps in this regard. There is a mystery why no charge was taken for the cremation of the victim’s body. Why was the victim’s body cremated without the signature of any family member? All these will be probed again,” the Chief Minister had said at a programme.

Earlier on August 7, state Health Minister Sharadwat Mukherjee, an acclaimed medical practitioner, announced that while the CBI will continue with its own probe, the West Bengal Health Department will also conduct a separate and independent investigation, considering that the victim was a woman junior doctor.

He said the department will share its findings with the CBI.

According to the Minister, the Health Department will question those who went to the crime scene, reportedly a seminar room within the hospital premises, before and after the incident on the night of August 8, 2024.

College professors will also be questioned in connection with the case.

–IANS

src/skp