Kolkata: The West Bengal Police on Thursday arrested Nirmal Ghosh, former Trinamool Congress legislator and the party’s ex-Chief Whip in the Assembly, in connection with the 2024 rape and murder of a female junior doctor of state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
Ghosh was a former MLA from the Panihati Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district.
Following the instructions of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate in North 24 Parganas district, under whose jurisdiction Panihati comes, started an investigation into the ‘hurried’ cremation of the victim at a crematorium at Panihati, reportedly to eliminate the chances of a second post-mortem.
Based on a fresh complaint filed by the victim’s father at Khardah police station earlier this week, under the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate, a fresh FIR was registered naming Nirmal Ghosh; Somanth Dey, a local Trinamool Congress councillor from Panihati Municipality, and Sanjeev Mukherjee, a neighbour of the victim’s family.
It was alleged that the cremation of the victim’s body was done on the night of August 9, 2024, breaking all cremation-related protocols under the supervision of these three persons.
Since the fresh FIR was registered, Nirmal Ghosh went absconding and also started using a new mobile SIM card to evade police surveillance, an insider from the Barrackpore Police Barrackpore Police Commissionerate said.
However, on Wednesday evening, the investigating officers were tipped off by their sources about Ghosh hiding at Puri in Odisha. Accordingly, a team from the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate rushed and finally arrested him in a hotel near Puri on Thursday afternoon.
It is learnt that Ghosh will be produced before a court in Odisha and thereafter will be brought back to Kolkata on transit remand overnight. The police will produce him at a district court in Barrackpore on Friday, and the public prosecutor will seek his police custody for further interrogation.
Confirming the arrest of Ghosh, state Health Minister Dr Sharadwat Mukherjee, himself an acclaimed medical practitioner, said that the arrest should have been made much earlier.
It is learnt that in the process of hurried cremation of the victim’s body on the night of August 9, 2024, even the necessary cremation charges were waived and the body was cremated without the signature of any family member of the victim.
All these were allegedly done to eliminate the chance of a second autopsy of the victim’s body. It is also alleged that the post-mortem and inquest were also done in a lackadaisical manner and were completed within a suspiciously short period of time.
(IANS)
