TMC ex-MLA Nirmal Ghosh arrested in RG Kar ‘hurried cremation’ case

Former Trinamool Congress MLA Nirmal Ghosh was arrested in Odisha on Thursday in connection with the alleged hurried cremation of the junior doctor who was raped and murdered at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August 2024, police said.

Ghosh, who represented Panihati, was arrested on charges including destruction of evidence, criminal conspiracy and forcing a person to carry out an act against their will.

The arrest follows a fresh complaint filed by the victim doctor's father at Khardah police station, alleging that Ghosh and two others were involved in forcing the family to proceed with the cremation in haste.

The Barrackpore Police Commissionerate subsequently registered an FIR naming Ghosh, Panihati Municipality councillor Somnath Dey and Sanjeev Mukherjee, a neighbour of the victim's family.

According to the complaint, the cremation was allegedly carried out without the consent of the family and in a manner that could have prevented a second autopsy. Police are separately examining questions surrounding the documents used for the cremation, including the signatures recorded on them.

The fresh case is separate from the Central Bureau of Investigation's probe into the rape and murder of the doctor. The CBI took over that investigation after it was transferred from the Kolkata Police.

The move to initiate a separate probe into the cremation followed a direction from Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari during a memorial programme for the victim doctor in Panihati. Adhikari had asked the Barrackpore Police Commissioner to investigate the circumstances surrounding the cremation.

The 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor was found dead inside a seminar room at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, 2024. Investigators later established that she had been raped and murdered the previous night.

The rape-murder case is being investigated separately by the CBI. One person has been convicted in that case, which is now pending before the Calcutta High Court.