Kolkata: The Bharatiya Janata Party has accused Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress of cover-up details about the rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital last month. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party have been taking heavy fire over the horrific killing, with the BJP targeting her and Kolkata Police, which reports to Ms Banerjee in her role as Home Minister.
At a press conference Friday BJP leader Sambit Patra flagged three claims raised by the doctors' parents - that a state official bribed them to "hush up the case"; that on the morning of August 9, hours after their daughter's body was discovered, they were forced to wait for over three hours to see the body; and that after being told of her death they were urged to sign a blank paper.
"... these questions by the victim's father are of paramount importance... because on the foundation of these questions is based the investigation and outcome of the investigation."
"Imagine the father's plight... imagine what he was thinking after learning of his daughter's brutal murder... he wouldn't have been able to reconcile what is happening. And, at that time, when her body is still in the house, a District Collector, not a politician, offers money..."
This claim was made by the parents earlier this week.
READ | "Cops Offered Money, We Declined": Father Of Kolkata Doctor
"When my daughter's body was at our home, DC (North) tried to give us some money. We replied accordingly," the father said. The parents had earlier also claimed to have been offered money by a "senior police official". "The police, from the beginning, tried to hush up the case... when her body was handed over, a senior police official offered us money," the father said.
"... we immediately declined," he said of both offers.
Mr Patra today underlined the offer from "an administrator" and demanded, "What was it that the administration was trying to throw under the carpet? What was there to hide... that (Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee's government sent the DC and offered money to the victim's father?"
The Trinamool has hit back on this count by flagging another video, which emerged earlier, and in which the parents say no money was offered and that there was 'no question' about being offered any.
Trinamool's "Vulture Politics" Counter
The ruling party has counter-accused the BJP of "vulture politics" by spreading conspiracy theories.
However, in another twist to an already complicated narrative, a relative has claimed the video, in which they dismiss allegations money was offered by a senior cop, been filmed under pressure.
On the parents' allegations the state has offered a more circumspect response.
"Given the mental state of the parents... we will not analyse why they said this (that money had been offered) when they said something else earlier. There is no place for this (now). Whatever they, or family, are saying, we respect it..." Dr Shashi Panja, the Women and Child Development Minister, said.
"Forced To Wait For 3.5 Hours"
Meanwhile, Mr Patra also tore into the Trinamool over parents' claims they were "forced to wait for three-and-a-half hours" outside the seminar room in which the body was discovered before being allowed to see their daughter. During this time, he alleged, officials tried to get them to leave.
READ | "We Are Coming. How Is She?": 3 Hospital Calls To Doctor's Parents
Mr Patra also alleged "in that time many people went in and out of the room", suggesting laxity in securing the crime scene, intentionally or otherwise, may have contaminated crucial evidence.
"What did the government want to do in that room for three-and-half-hours?"
Finally, he also asked why the police, according to the doctor's father, wanted the parents to sign a blank piece of paper after being shown the daughter's body.
"I tore it up and threw it away..." the father had said of the alleged cover-up attempt.
READ | "Wanted Body Preserved, Forced To Cremate": Doctor's Parents
The police and the state government have been criticised by the opposition and civil society activists for their respective handling of this case. The government has been grilled over delays by Dr Sandip Ghosh - the ex-hospital chief arrested by the CBI over financial irregularities - in filing a police case, and also over appointing him to head another hospital hours after he quit RG Kar on "moral grounds".
The police have been questioned over alleged lapses in protocol, which they have denied.
Both have also faced questions from the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court, which came down heavily on Dr Ghosh delaying filing a police case and on his new posting; the High Court asked the state government, "No man is above the law. Why do you protect him..."
CBI Almost Finished With Probe
Mr Patra's broadside today came hours after sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation, tasked with this inquiry by the Calcutta High Court, said the case was nearly complete.
Sources in the federal agency also said they had ruled out gangrape as the available evidence indicated that only Sanjay Roy - arrested last month by Kolkata Police - was involved.
READ | CBI Rules Out Gang-Rape In Kolkata Case, Sanjay Roy Lone Accused
Meanwhile, a triumphant Trinamool posted on X shortly afterwards, stating, "After 24 days of inaction CBI confirmed what Kolkata Police established in 24 hours... Sanjay Roy was the sole perpetrator in the RG Kar tragedy. Conspiracy theories circulated by BJP... have been exposed."
"We now demand the chargesheet be filed and the accused be put on trial WITHOUT DELAY. Anything less is an insult to the victim's memory!" the party declared.
Mamata Banerjee, still smarting at the High Court overruling her five-day deadline for the police before the CBI was to be summoned, has been fiercely critical of the federal agency; last week she said, "I asked for five days but the case was sent to CBI... where is justice (now)?"
With input from agencies
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