Fresh Probe Announced into 2024 RG Kar Case; Silence Observed at Bengal Government Hospitals

PTI, August 9, 2026, Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday announced a fresh probe into the 2024 rape and murder of the doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital that shook the country. Adhikari said the government took the decision on the request of the deceased doctor's mother, who is now a BJP MLA.

"Ratna Debnath had written to me, requesting a fresh investigation. After extensive discussions with the chief secretary and a team of experts, I am announcing a fresh investigation under the Special Commission Act, 1952," he said.

Adhikari claimed that the police had failed to perform their duty in relation to this case.

He also ordered a separate investigation into the alleged lapses.

Meanwhile, a two-minute silence was observed on Sunday in all government hospitals across West Bengal in memory of the doctor. The victim's mother, now a BJP MLA, planted and watered a sapling at a memorial meeting for the trainee doctor.

The West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front, which led extensive protests following the discovery of the post-graduate trainee's body on August 9, 2024, held a clinic for underprivileged people at Chitpur in north Kolkata. "We are holding the clinic seeking justice for the on-duty doctor who was raped and murdered," said one participating doctor.

The Junior Doctors' Front later held a memorial march from College Street to Esplanade for the post-graduate trainee, demanding that proper justice be served for her by way of arrest and trial of other people who may have been involved in the gruesome crime directly or indirectly.