Kolkata:

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the ghastly rape and murder of a woman junior doctor of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, is trying to retrieve the deleted history of the mobile phone calls and messages which Ashish Pandey made on August 9, the morning of which the body of the victim was discovered at the seminar hall within the hospital premises.

Pandey is one of the confidants of Sandip Ghosh, the former and controversial principal of RG Kar.

Sources said the investigating officials have come across some circumstantial evidence that indicates that the history of such calls and messages from Pandey’s mobile phone were deleted in due course.

The investigating officials believe that once the data on this count are retrieved it might lead to new angles in the twin conspiracies, the first related to tampering of evidence in the rape and murder case and the second related to the rampant financial irregularities at RG Kar.

Sources added that the investigating officials suspect that these deleted calls and messages were mainly related to a conversation between Pandey and his mentor Sandip Ghosh, against whom the central agency officials are conducting parallel probes in both the rape and murder as well the financial irregularities case.

In the rape and murder case, the main charges against Ghosh and the former SHO of Tala Police Station Abhijit Mondal are — misleading the investigation and tempering of the evidence when the initial probe in the matter was being carried out by the Kolkata Police.

The name of Pandey first surfaced in the second week of September, when the CBI officials traced that he had put up at a hotel in Salt Lake on the night of August 9, on the morning of which the body of the doctor was discovered within the hospital premises.

On October 3, the CBI sleuths arrested Pandey in connection with the financial irregularities case. He is currently under judicial custody.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

People come to support junior doctors sitting on a hunger strike demanding justice for the RG Kar rape-murder case, in Kolkata on October 11, 2024
| Photo Credit: ANI

Another junior doctor, who was observing a fast-unto-death in protest over the rape and murder of a woman medic at R.G. Kar Medical College was rushed to a hospital on Saturday evening after his health condition deteriorated, an official said.

Anustup Mukherjee, a junior doctor of Medical College, Kolkata, became the third medic of those who have been on the indefinite fast to be taken to hospital. His condition was stated to be “serious” by his colleagues at the agitation site in the city, a medic said.

Also read | ‘Medical fraternity of India is concerned’: IMA writes to Mamata on fast unto death by junior doctors

After a team of doctors decided that his condition demanded that he be admitted to hospital for treatment, Dr. Mukherjee was taken to hospital, he said.

He was taken for treatment to Medical College, Kolkata, of which he is a student.

Junior doctors at the agitation site said blood was coming out of his stool and that he was complaining of severe stomach ache.

They requested the government to consider their demands, maintaining that the state administration was “responsible” for the illnesses of the fasting doctors.

Earlier in the day, Alok Varma from North Bengal Medical College and Hospital became the second medic of those who have been on an indefinite fast to be hospitalised after Aniket Mahato was admitted to the ICU of RG Kar Hospital three days back.

The junior doctors commenced their fast-unto-death in the Esplanade area in central Kolkata on October 5.

The protesting doctors have been demanding justice for the deceased woman medic at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital and immediate removal of Health Secretary N.S. Nigam.

Their other demands include the establishment of a centralised referral system for all hospitals and medical colleges in the state, the implementation of a bed vacancy monitoring system, and formation of task forces to ensure essential provisions for CCTV, on-call rooms, and washrooms at their workplaces.

New Delhi:

Junior doctors protesting August’s rape and murder at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital are on a fast-unto-death, setting up another potential face-off with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Six people are on a hunger strike and this will continue for an “indefinite period (till) we get justice”, they said last night.

They will be joined this week by colleagues from Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences, who said they will hold a candlelight protest at the city’s JLN Auditorium on Wednesday evening.

Speaking to NDTV Monday morning, a doctor from AIIMS acknowledged his colleagues and he have a duty to their patients and the public and so could not strike indefinitely, but said, “The country has seen junior doctors of Bengal striking for 50 days. The demands have been clear since Day 1 – justice.”

#WATCH | Kolkata, West Bengal | On hunger strike called by Junior Doctors, Dr Aqeeb says, “…Six of our people are sitting on hunger strike right now and we will continue for an indefinite period..Our only demand is we want justice in the RG Kar incident…” (06.10) pic.twitter.com/P2Bhl0z60Y

— ANI (@ANI) October 7, 2024

“But we are seeing questions over the investigation (being led by the Central Bureau of Investigation) and it is so slow…” he said, also launching a fierce criticism of Ms Banerjee.

“Mamata Banerjee is not listening… she is just diverting the topic. Transferring some officails and not changing the ground reality. So how will doctors have a sense of security at the workplace?” he asked, also hitting out at the ‘threat culture’ red-flagged by Bengal doctors.

“It is high time that this ‘threat culture’ should end… not just in Kolkata but anywhere in India. If this is prevalent in any section of scoiety it should end,” he told NDTV, stating that resident doctors from AIIMS would hold a silent march and a candelight protest for their colleagues.

Doctors’ protests against the Bengal administration – over demands that include justice for their colleague, improved workplace safety and security, and a reshuffle of state officials to root out a “threat culture” – renewed last week with a sit-in protest in the heart of Kolkata.

The doctors indicated also the rest would fufill their responsibilities to the public by attending to patients but not eat anything. The state will be held responsible for their condition, they said.

On Friday the doctors had withdrawn a second ‘ceasework’ movement, which had, again, crippled healthcare services at state-run medical colleges and hospitals.

They had started their second ‘ceasework’ strike – which involves attending only to essntial and emergency services, but not working in outpatient departments – on October 1.

This was all after the doctors said the government had failed to act on assurances given during last month’s meeting with the Chief Minister. They also said CCTV cameras would be set up to “maintain transparency”. The reference was seen as a reminder to Ms Banerjee; one of the doctors’ demands is increased camera surveillance of hospital campuses across the state.

Significantly, the doctors’ fresh protests followed another horrific crime in the state.

The body of a 10-year-old girl was found in a canal in 24 South Parganas’ Kultani on Saturday. Ms Banerjee – already under heavy political fire from the opposition BJP and from civil activists – told cops to file a case under the POCSO Act and “ensure culprits get capital puishment”.

The young girl’s family has alleged neligence by the police.

The police – who also face questions over their handling of the RG Kar rape-murder horror, including the courts asking why there was a delay in filing a case – have detained a suspect.

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