“Need to conduct sustained interrogation to determine if there is any conspiracy…”: Kolkata ACP Murlidhar Sharma

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], August 16 (ANI): In the wake of the vandalism by an unidentified mob at RG Kar Medical College during the night of August 14-15, Kolkata Additional Commissioner of Police Murlidhar Sharma said that 25 individuals have been arrested and sustained interrogation is being conducted to determine if there is any conspiracy behind the attack.

Sharma stated, “So far, we have arrested 25 people in this case. The interrogation of most of these individuals is underway. We plan to produce some of them in court today. While many claimed they came to the site independently, verification is still ongoing. We need to conduct sustained interrogation to determine if there is any conspiracy or if others are involved.”

The Additional CP also revealed that large number of people gathered to protest against the brutal incident through information spread on social media.

“As the Commissioner mentioned earlier, crowds had gathered at more than 50 locations across the city. The protests were peaceful at 49 of these sites,” he said.

Regarding some reports on social media that claimed that the evidence was destroyed by the mob, Sharma clarified, “The mob did not reach the fourth floor where the Post Office is located. They caused significant damage on the ground floor and in the emergency ward, and some individuals reached the first floor. Our forces took time to reassemble, but once they did, they managed to disperse the crowd. We arrested several individuals at that time and have conducted additional raids to apprehend more suspects.”

On Thursday police said that a mob of between 5,000 and 7,000 people, including several individuals invaded RG Kar Hospital, attacked protesting doctors and medical students, and attempted to ransack the premises on the night of August 14.

“We are proud of the fact that, despite being heavily outnumbered, our colleagues deployed at the spot, including the DC (North), tried to fight back using limited resources, putting their own lives at risk until reinforcements arrived to bring the situation under control. Several of our men were injured in the attack, some of them seriously,” the police said.

Police said that they have identified the miscreants who led the attack, and stringent action will be taken shortly.

A nationwide withdrawal of services has been announced by doctors of modern medicine starting from 6 am on Saturday, August 17 to 6 am Sunday, August 18, per the official statement released by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Thursday.

On August 9, a postgraduate trainee doctor was raped and murdered on duty at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata, which has led to nationwide strikes and protests by the medical fraternity.