Former civic body chief Somnath Dey arrested in RG Kar rape-victim's cremation case

Kolkata: Former chairman of Panihati Municipality Somnath Dey was arrested in Bengaluru on Thursday in connection with the alleged hurried cremation of the body of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder victim in 2024, police said.

Dey, a TMC leader who had been absconding since the police began probing the circumstances surrounding the cremation, was arrested from the southern metropolis early in the day, a senior officer of the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate said.

He is currently in police custody and is expected to be brought to West Bengal on transit remand before being produced before a court in Barrackpore, the officer said.


Read more: RG Kar case: Calcutta HC expresses dissatisfaction with CBI probe progress

The prosecution is likely to seek his police custody for questioning.

Dey is the third person to be arrested in the case which has added a fresh political and legal dimension to the controversy surrounding the death of the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor on August 9, 2024, when the TMC was in power.

Former TMC MLA from Panihati Nirmal Ghosh and Sanjeev Mukherjee, a neighbour of the victim's family, were earlier arrested in connection with the alleged conspiracy surrounding the cremation. Both have since secured bail, police said.

The police had identified Ghosh, Mukherjee and Dey as the three principal accused after registering an FIR at Khardah police station on the basis of a complaint by the victim's father.

Read more: SC transfers RG Kar Medical College trainee doctor rape-murder case to Calcutta HC

The family has alleged that the body was cremated in undue haste and without their consent, raising suspicion that the hurried disposal of the body was intended to prevent a second post-mortem and facilitate the concealment of evidence.

The arrest of Dey is likely to revive questions over the chain of events between the discovery of the doctor's body at the state-run hospital and its cremation at a burning ghat at Panihati under Khardah police station in North 24 Parganas district.

According to police, the body was taken to the crematorium and cremated in haste, allegedly after overtaking two other bodies waiting in the queue.

Investigators have also questioned the signatures on documents relating to the cremation, with the family claiming that these were not those of the victim's parents or other close relatives.

The case is separate from the CBI investigation into the rape and murder of the doctor at the hospital.

"The CBI is probing into the rape and murder case at RG Kar hospital which falls under the jurisdiction of Kolkata Police. The new FIR lodged at Khardah police station is based on the complaint of the family that the body was cremated in a hurry without their consent to hush up evidence," a senior police officer has earlier told PTI.

The controversy over the cremation had acquired renewed political significance after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, while attending a programme marking the second death anniversary of the doctor, called for a separate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the cremation.

Adhikari had specifically flagged questions over the alleged waiver of the cremation fee and the absence of signatures of the victim's family members on the relevant documents.

"The role of Ghosh, Dey and Mukherjee in the cremation needs to be investigated," he had said, directing the Barrackpore Police Commissioner to take necessary steps and register a separate case.

The arrest of Dey, a former civic body chairman and TMC leader, now brings a prominent local political figure into the centre of the cremation controversy.

The RG Kar hospital doctor was found dead in a seminar room of the state-run hospital on the morning of August 9, 2024. Investigators subsequently established that she had been raped and murdered the previous night.