Nirmal Ghosh, a former Trinamool MLA, was arrested for the “hurried cremation” of RG Kar Case

Nirmal Ghosh, a former Trinamool Congress MLA, was detained on Thursday in Odisha in relation to the suspected hasty cremation of the junior physician who was sexually assaulted and killed at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital two years prior, according to the police. According to the police, Ghosh, the former Panihati MLA, was detained on suspicion of destroying evidence, criminal conspiracy, and coercing someone into performing an act against their will.

Ghosh was one of the three who allegedly forced the “hurried cremation” of his daughter’s body, according to a new complaint the victim doctor’s father submitted at the Khardaha police station on Monday. This led to the arrest. The new case is unrelated to the CBI’s probe into the doctor’s rape and murder, according to a senior police officer of the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate.

“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,” news agency PTI reported quoting an unnamed officer.

The arrest also occurs a few days after Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari instructed the police to file a separate case into the circumstances surrounding the cremation while attending a function to commemorate the doctor’s second death anniversary. The Chief Minister had stated that there were concerns regarding the cremation, including the purported waiver of the cremation charge and the lack of the victim’s family members’ signatures on the pertinent paperwork.

On August 9, 2024, the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee physician was discovered dead in a seminar room at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.It was later determined by investigators that she had been raped and killed the nite before. The police claim that the body was transported to a cremation in Panihati and quickly burnt, apparently surpassing two other remains in queue.

The signatures on the cremation approval forms have also drawn criticism from the police, who claim that the signatures were those of neighbours rather than the victim’s parents or other relatives. After the investigation was transferred from the Kolkata Police, the CBI is looking into the rape and murder case independently. The case is currently pending in the Calcutta High Court after one person was found guilty.