After more than two weeks of protests over the rape and murder of a doctor at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, tensions prevailed in the administrative and political circles of West Bengal on Monday (August 26, 2024) over the call for a ‘March to Nabanna’ on Tuesday (August 27, 2024), demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The West Bengal police held a couple of media interactions during the day, calling the march “illegal” and “politically motivated”, and said the organisers had not sought permission from the police to organise it in areas where prohibitory orders are still in force.
Kolkata Nabanna Abhijan rally LIVE updates
The march was announced by thePaschimbanga Chattro Samaj, a little-known student organisation with fresh faces, which is using slogans from Bangladesh for its march to the Secretariat. “Dafa Ek, Daabi Ek, Mamataar Podotyag (One point, one demand, resignation of Mamata)” is one of the slogans raised by those who have given a call for the rally.
“We have concrete information that a section of miscreants, taking advantage of the emotions of people and well-intentioned citizens, will try to create large-scale violence, create chaos to an extent that the police are compelled to use force. We have specific intelligence that conspiracies and plans are underway to create instability, and miscreants will stoop to any level to create chaos disturbance and unlawfulness,” Additional Director General of Police (South Bengal) Supratim Sarkar told journalists at the Secretariat.
Mr. Sarkar said it is a “strange coincidence” that student leaders met a politician of an Opposition party a few days ago at a five-star hotel in Kolkata.
Additional Director General (Law and Order) West Bengal Police Manoj Verma added that because of UGCNET exam on Tuesday, ample arrangements are in place to ensure students can write the test without disruptions.
Earlier in the day, Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh and Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya held a press conference alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh were trying to foment trouble. The organisers said the crowd will assemble at 2 p.m. for the March to Nabanna on Tuesday. The Left students’ and youth wings have distanced themselves from the march, whereas the BJP has supported the call.
Protests have rocked Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal over the gruesome rape and murder on August 9, but except for the vandalism at the R.G. Kar college in the early hours of August 15, there has been no incidents of violence during the protests.
The protesting resident doctors on Monday held a convention at Medical College, Kolkata where many eminent citizens expressed solidarity with them. About 10,000 resident doctors in the State are on strike since August 10 and despite appeals from the Supreme Court and the State government, the doctors have continued their protests which have severely affected health services in the State.
On Monday, a video of the seminar hall of the R.G. Kar college, the scene of the crime according to investigators, was aired by some television channels. In the video, a group of people including doctors and police officers, are seen crowding the seminar room on August 9. The Kolkata Police held a press conference saying that about 40 feet of the seminar hall where the body was found had been cordoned off by the police and the people were in the remaining 11 feet of the seminar hall. The video has once again given rise to speculation that the crime scene was not properly protected by the investigators.
In a related development, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday conducted a second round of polygraph tests on the former principal of R.G. Kar College Sandip Kumar Ghosh. Dr. Ghosh has been questioned by the central agency for the past 10 days. CBI has conducted polygraph tests on seven persons including the prime accused in the case, Sanjay Roy, a civic police volunteer.
Meanwhile, in another development, an FIR lodged by the CBI on the allegations of corruption at R G Kar college came into the public domain on Monday. The FIR registered on August 24 has been lodged against Dr. Ghosh and three other private companies. The charges pressed under the FIR include Sections 120B and 420 of the IPC as well as Section 7 of The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The Calcutta High Court on August 23 had directed CBI to probe corruption charges against Dr. Ghosh and the case was transferred from Kolkata Police to the CBI.
Published - August 26, 2024 05:19 pm IST
