Two arrested in probe into alleged hasty cremation of RG Kar victim

Sanjeev Mukherjee, one of the accused in the alleged conspiracy surrounding the hurried cremation of the RG Kar rape-murder victim’s body in August 2024, has been arrested, police said on Friday.

Mukherjee, who had been absconding since the registration of a fresh FIR, was arrested from a house in Chinar Park in Kolkata on Thursday night, according to a state police source.

His arrest came just hours after Nirmal Ghosh, a former Trinamool Congress legislator from Panihati and the party’s former Chief Whip in the West Bengal Assembly, was arrested from a hideout in neighbouring Odisha in connection with the same case.

Ghosh was brought back to Kolkata from Odisha. Both Ghosh and Mukherjee are scheduled to be produced before a district court in Barrackpore in North 24-Parganas on Friday, where the prosecution is expected to seek their custody for questioning.

The third accused named in the case, Somnath Dey, a Trinamool Congress councillor from Panihati Municipality, remains on the run. Police have launched searches at several locations to trace him.

The arrests follow a fresh investigation ordered into allegations surrounding the cremation of the body of the young doctor from Kolkata’s state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The doctor was found dead in a seminar hall on the hospital premises on the morning of 9 August, 2024. She had been raped and murdered the previous night, triggering nationwide outrage and protests.

The circumstances surrounding the disposal of her body subsequently came under intense scrutiny, with allegations that it was taken to a crematorium in Panihati and cremated in haste, allegedly in violation of established procedures. It has also been alleged that the hurried last rites were intended to prevent the possibility of a second post-mortem examination.

The fresh probe was announced by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari at a programme marking the second anniversary of the victim’s death on 8 August. Following the announcement, a fresh FIR was registered at Khardah police station under the Barrackpore Police Commissariat on the basis of a complaint filed by the victim’s father.

The FIR named Ghosh, Mukherjee and Dey as accused in the alleged conspiracy.

All three went into hiding after the case was registered. With Ghosh and Mukherjee now in custody, investigators are continuing efforts to locate Dey.

The allegations centre on the events that followed the discovery of the doctor’s body at RG Kar Medical College. According to the allegations, the body was taken to a crematorium at Panihati and the last rites were carried out with unusual haste. Ghosh, Mukherjee and Dey have been accused of supervising or facilitating the cremation.

The latest arrests have brought renewed attention to one of the most contentious aspects of the RG Kar case, as investigators seek to establish whether the cremation process involved deliberate violations of procedure or an attempt to obstruct any further forensic examination.

With IANS inputs