Three audio recordings of phone calls, allegedly made by RG Kar Medical College authorities on the morning of August 9 to the parents of the trainee doctor who was brutally raped and murdered, were circulating on social media on Thursday, raising questions on if the hospital were initially attempting to cover up the crime.
The phone calls, whose authenticity THE WEEK hasn't individually verified, also showed the insensitivity of the hospital authorities while breaking the bad news to the elderly parents of the victim.
The first phone call (One minute and 11 seconds)
The caller, a woman who identified herself as the assistant superintendent of the hospital, reportedly called the parents of the victim from the same number thrice within 30 minutes, demanding their immediate presence at the hospital.
"I am calling from RG Kar Hospital. Can you come over quickly?" the caller could be heard telling the victim's father in the first phone call, which happened around 10.53 am.
The father asked, "Why? What has happened?" To this, the caller responded saying the victim was feeling unwell and had been admitted to the hospital.
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When the victim's father demanded to know more details, the woman said, "Those only the doctors can provide. We only managed to find your number and call you. Please come down quickly. The patient has been admitted after falling ill. The rest, the doctors will brief you after you arrive."
When the victim's mother asked from the background if her daughter was down with a fever, the woman merely responded saying, "Come over quickly."
"Is her condition very serious?" the father asked, to which the woman replied, "Yes, she is very serious. Come quickly."
The second call (46 seconds)
The woman called the parents of the victim again five minutes after the first call. In the second call, the caller was heard saying, "Her condition is critical, very critical. Please come over as soon as you can."
She repeated her statement that only the doctors could give an accurate picture about the victim's health when the desperate father asked her for more details.
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When the father asked who was speaking, the woman replied, "I am the assistant superintendent. I am not a doctor. We have brought your daughter to the emergency ward. You please come over and contact us."
"But what could have happened to her? She was on duty," the voice could be heard in the background.
"You come over quickly, as soon as you can," the woman replied.
The third call (28 seconds)
The third call was more shocking than the previous two as the caller informed the parents that their daughter was no more.
"Yes, please listen we were repeatedly telling you before that your daughter may have died by suicide or, she may have passed away. The police are here. All of us from the hospital are here. We are calling you to ask you to come down quickly," the caller said in disjointed sentences.
The changes in the hospital's statement, from the victim "falling ill" to "very critical and admitted in emergency ward" to, finally, "may have died by suicide" have left the investigators to question whether "a carefully planned suicide plot was being hatched by the hospital authorities and police to cover up the crime", an official said.
"Especially since the caller admitted in her final call, while misleading the family on the cause of the victim's death, that she was speaking in the presence of police and hospital authorities," the official added.
