BJP seeks Mamata Banerjee's resignation for fair probe in RG Kar doctor case

New Delhi: The BJP on Friday upped the ante against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and demanded that she immediately step down, saying a fair probe into the Kolkata medic rape-murder case was not possible so long as she remained at the helm.

The BJP's latest salvo came after the medic's family members, who joined the protesting doctors at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday, accused the Kolkata Police of attempting to suppress the case by hastily cremating the body.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters in Delhi, party national spokesperson and Lok Sabha MP Sambit Patra said the victim's father raised many questions of "paramount importance".

"The victim's father has said that when the body was kept at (their) home, DC North (of the Kolkata Police) came to him and tried to give him money. Why? What was the administration trying to throw under the carpet by paying bribe money to the parents of the victim?" he asked.

Patra further said, "So long as the chief minister of West Bengal and Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal continue to hold their posts, a fair investigation into the case is not possible… Hence, the BJP asks both of them -- step down from your posts for a fair trial and justice to the victim." The BJP leader said the demolition of a doctors' room and toilets adjacent to the suspected crime spot also raised several questions.

"The victim was murdered on the intervening night of August 8 and August 9. Sandip Ghosh, ex-principal of RG Kar Medical College, issued a letter on August 10 for demolition of the doctors' room, doctors' toilet and staff toilet adjacent to the seminar room," he said.

On the same day, the health and family welfare department's principal secretary and the director of medical education held a meeting and ordered a site inspection, Patra alleged.

"Inspection was also done the same day and the said rooms were demolished. What was the hurry? An attempt was made to destroy evidence… This was not possible without the complicity of Mamata Banerjee and the Kolkata Police commissioner," he charged.

Patra demanded that call detail records of Banerjee and Goyal be retrieved to ascertain what they talked about over the phone.