A health ministry official, Suhrita Paul, will replace Sandip Ghosh as the Principal of RG Kar Medical College. Mr Ghosh — who said he was stepping down from the post and the government job following the rape-murder of the 31-year-old doctor — has been appointed the principal of the Calcutta Medical College, the city’s top teaching hospital. Ajay Kumar Ray, who was heading the institution, has been transferred to the health ministry.
The rapid changes were set in motion in after the rape-murder, which has triggered a storm not just in the state, but medical establishments across the country. Cutting across cities, doctors are declaring strike to show solidarity with the protesting students of RG Kar Medical College and demanding speedy justice.
Announcing his resignation this morning, Sandip Ghosh had claimed his decision followed the wishes of the medical students and junior doctors at RG Kar, and the public.
“For the last few days, my family and I have been subjected to various adverse comments. So I have decided to resign,” he had said, claiming that he was being a victim of political conspiracy. “I have never been part of any kind of political game,” he said.
“I am getting defamed on social media…The deceased doctor was like my daughter. As a parent, I resign…I don’t like that this should happen to anyone in future,” he had told reporters as he left the hospital.
The outcry against him – started after Friday’s rape-murder — had intensified after he questioned why the second-year postgrad had gone to an empty seminar room alone at night – a comment that was seen as victim-shaming.
The hospital has no on-call room and the woman had gone to the room after dinner to study. Apparently she had dropped off to sleep there.
Her partially clothed body, bearing multiple injuries, was found there the next morning.
The prime suspect is Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer with Kolkata Police who was stationed at the police outpost at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and had access to all departments. He was arrested on basis of CCTV footage that showed him entering the building where the doctor was found murdered. A Bluetooth headset found next to the victim’s body was seen on his neck in the CCTV footage. It was found to be paired with his phone as well.
Local media has reported that Roy admitted to the crime soon after police started questioning him. “Hang me if you want,” he had told the police nonchalantly, the reports said.
The preliminary postmortem reports, however, indicate the rape and murder may not be the handiwork of a single person. The police are not ruling out the involvement of more people.
