Ex-TMC MLA Nirmal Ghosh arrested for 'hasty cremation' of victim in RG Kar case

The former West Bengal lawmaker was arrested from Odisha's Sambhalpur on charges of destruction of evidence, criminal conspiracy, and forcing someone to carry out an act against their will, officials said.

Ex-Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Nirmal Ghosh was arrested on Thursday over his alleged involvement in the "hurried cremation" of the trainee doctor who was raped and murdered at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata in 2024, police said.

The former West Bengal Assembly member was picked up from Odisha's Sambhalpur on charges of destruction of evidence, criminal conspiracy, and forcing someone to carry out an act against their will, they said.

Ghosh is the former MLA of the Panihati constituency, which is now represented in the Assembly by the victim's mother and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ratna Debnath.

His arrest came two days after an FIR was registered against him in connection with the matter. The case was filed on the basis of a fresh complaint lodged by the female doctor's father on Monday.

The complainant alleged that Ghosh was among the three who had forced the "hurried cremation" of his daughter's body. Besides the ex-TMC MLA, the two other accused in the case are Panihati Municipality councillor Somnath Dey and Sanjeev Mukherjee, a neighbour of the victim's family.

In his complaint, the doctor's father alleged that her cremation was carried out in undue haste under the supervision of the trio, allegedly to prevent the possibility of a second autopsy and thus conceal evidence.

Attending a memorial programme for the doctor in Panihati on Sunday, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had directed the Barrackpore Police Commissioner to launch a fresh probe into the alleged hasty cremation.

He had said there were questions over the cremation, including the alleged waiver of the cremation fee and the absence of signatures of the victim's family members on the relevant documents.

According to a senior police officer of the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate, the new case is separate from the CBI investigation into the rape and murder of the doctor.

"The CBI is probing the rape and murder case at RG Kar hospital, which falls under the jurisdiction of Kolkata Police. The new FIRs lodged at Khardah police station are based on complaints by the family of the deceased that the body was cremated in a hurry without the consent of the family members to hush up evidence," the officer was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

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(With inputs from PTI)