The West Bengal Police have filed a first information report against three persons, including former Trinamool Congress MLA Nirmal Ghosh, in connection with the alleged hurried cremation of a doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in 2024, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday.
The fresh FIR came after West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari directed the police to register a new case in the matter. A Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry is underway in the case.
Addressing a gathering on Sunday to mark the doctor’s second death anniversary, Adhikari claimed that her cremation was initially scheduled after two others at the crematorium but was moved ahead and conducted first.
The doctor’s mother, Ratna Debnath– now the Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Panihati – was present at the event where the chief minister made the claims.
On Monday, the case was registered at Khardah police station after the doctor’s father filed a complaint with the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate. The other two named in the FIR are former Panihati municipal chairman and Trinamool Congress leader Somnath Dey, and local resident Sanjib Mukherjee.
The three have been booked under charges of wrongful restraint, disappearance of evidence or giving false information and trespassing into funeral sites, among others, an unidentified police officer at Khardah Police Station told The Indian Express.
The doctor’s family had earlier also alleged that the cremation took place without the necessary documents being handed over to them to prevent a second post-mortem examination.
The case
On August 9, 2024, the 31-year-old trainee doctor was found dead on the premises of the state-run hospital. The death had sparked protests across the country.
Sanjoy Roy, who was convicted for the doctor’s rape and murder, was sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2025.
In February 2025, the Calcutta High Court admitted an appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation seeking a death sentence for Roy.
After the rape and murder came to light, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front led protests for several weeks, demanding the resignation of senior officials and an end to the “threat culture” in the state’s medical centres.
The CBI is separately looking into alleged tampering of evidence in the case and alleged corruption at the medical facility. Those accused in the case include the hospital’s former principal Sandip Ghosh and an ex-officer-in-charge of the Tala police station.
Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.
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