Kolkata doctor rape case: Victim’s father says ‘she was on night duty but nobody looked for her till 10 am…’

Protests over the rape and murder of a Kolkata doctor continued to gain momentum on Saturday as the CBI stepped up its investigation. The family of the victim has flagged several inconsistencies and claimed that the ‘entire department was suspect’. They also told the probe agency that several interns and physicians from the hospital might be involved in the crime.

“My daughter left for duty at around 8:10 am on that day. She was on OPD and last spoke to her mother at around 11:15 PM. In the morning when my wife was calling her, her phone was ringing but no one picked up, by that time my daughter died. The matter of concern is that from 3 AM to 10 AM, nobody needed her, despite she was an on-duty doctor…She had to face some problems in college, the entire department was a suspect,” her father told the media on Friday night.

The 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor was found dead with severe injuries in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College on August 9.

According to reports, the victim had been at the tail end of a 36-hour shift when she dozed off in a third-floor seminar room of the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. She was woken up by an intern around 3:00 am and went back to sleep after checking a report.

The autopsy report indicated that the attack could have taken place between 3:00 am and 5:00 am.

“The parents told us that they suspect the involvement of multiple persons behind the sexual assault and murder of their daughter. They have given names of a few interns and doctors who worked with her at the hospital. The agency is prioritising the questioning of these individuals and officers from Kolkata Police who were part of the initial investigation. We have identified at least 30 suspects and have started questioning them,” a CBI officer said.

(With inputs from agencies)