RG Kar medical student rape-murder: 'Will hand over case to CBI if police fail to crack it by Sunday,' says Mamata Banerjee
Kolkata/IBNS: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said her administration will handover the case pertaining to the alleged rape and murder of a medical student at Kolkata's RG Kar College and Hospital to the Central Bureau of Investigation if her police fail to solve it within a week.
Banerjee, who last week said she had no objection to the CBI probe into the case, set Sunday (August 18) as the deadline for the police to solve the case.
The Chief Minister said this visiting the residence of the trainee doctor, who was allegedly raped and murdered at the seminar room of the hospital.
Speaking to the media, Banerjee said, "I want the police to arrest all guilty people as soon as possible. If police can't solve the case by Sunday, we will transfer the case to the CBI.
"I have no interest in keeping the case with the police. But the CBI's success rate is poor. They haven't been able to solve the previous cases. People haven't got justice through the CBI probe. But still we will hand over the case to the CBI for the sake of people's satisfaction."
Earlier in the day, RG Kar Medical College and Hospital's Principal Sandip Ghosh resigned following massive protests from the junior doctors, who went on a strike from Monday across hospitals.
Addressing the press, Ghosh said, "The sole demand of all people of the state was my resignation. So I am resigning willingly and not under pressure."
"Some people are distorting my statement and playing politics against me," he added.
However, the junior doctors, who are leading the protests, want a written resignation from Ghosh.
"Sandip Ghosh's resignation was one of the demands from us. We are not calling off our protests unless and until our other demands are met. We want justice," said a protester.
In her initial remark last week, Banerjee had said speaking to ABP Ananda, "This was an inhuman and deplorable crime. I feel as if I have lost a family member. We can never defend such a crime. There can be no leniency for this kind of crime."
"I stand by the doctors. Their demands are completely justified... The role of the hospital authorities will also be probed and if negligence is proved, action will be taken," she added.
"The culprit will not be spared," said the Chief Minister who said she spoke to the parents of the victim.
One person has been detained in connection with the suspected rape and murder of a second-year female medical student.
According to reports, the detained person was an outsider but he used to visit the hospital quite regularly.
Police are trying to find if any other person was involved in the incident.
The body of the 31-year-old post-graduate student had injury marks and was recovered under mysterious conditions.
The victim, who hailed from Sodepur near Kolkata, and was pursuing her post-graduation in Chest Medicine. She was on duty on Thursday night.
The initial autopsy report found her body had several injury marks.
The report states that the victim was bleeding from eyes, mouth and private parts. Injury marks were visible on the face, lips, neck, nails, stomach, right-hand ring finger, left leg and left leg ankle, reported The Telegraph.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has called the rape and murder of a trainee doctor "inhuman and deplorable crime" and said she has no objection to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the incident that led the state government face the heat.