Just after unidentified miscreants entered the premises of state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital after midnight on Thursday and vandalised portions of the medical facility, the Kolkata police clarified that the seminar hall where the crime happened has been untouched.
In a post on X, the police said: "The crime scene is the seminar room and it has not been touched. Don't spread unverified news. We will initiate legal action for spreading rumours."
The incident happened during the early hours of Thursday when the miscreants barged into the midnight protests by women against the horrific rape murder of the doctor at the hospital. Police said a group of nearly 40 people entered the hospital premises, vandalised property and pelted stones at police personnel prompting them to fire teargas to disperse the mob.
According to a final year MBBS student of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, the mob deliberately vandalised the area. "Yesterday, we were having a peaceful protest, we had planned to arrange a rally of female nurses, doctors and students. When we were getting ready to start the rally, a huge mob came. We requested them to continue their rally and not try to interfere as there were female protestors. Then the mob tried to get into our protest,” the student, identified as Anupam Roy, said.
He added that the protesters hid from the mob. "They did not stop there. The mob just came to break the protest in a targeted and organised way," Roy added.
#WATCH | Kolkata | CBI team investigating rape & murder of a woman doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital arrives at CGO complex pic.twitter.com/pXQ3XebZyn
— ANI (@ANI) August 15, 2024
The miscreants were reportedly carrying sticks, bricks and rods. They went berserk at the Emergency ward, its nursing station and medicine store, besides a section of the Out Patients Department. They also destroyed CCTV cameras in and around the area. They also attacked a police vehicle and damaged several two-wheelers parked there.
The vandalised corridor of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata | Salil Bera
Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal told reporters that they were looking into the matter and said there was a media campaign against the police which aggravated the issue. "What the police have not done to crack this case? But there has been a malicious media campaign that has been going on," he told reporters.
He added that the Kolkata Police cannot cannot arrest anyone just based on rumours. "I can’t just arrest an intern based on some kind of rumour, it’s against my conscience. We have done what is right. Now the case is already gone. The CBI will be investigating it," Goyal said, adding that the police had not tried to save anyone.
