Mob attacks former TMC MLA Nirmal Ghosh after arrest in RG Kar cremation case

PTI, August 14, 2026, Kolkata : Former TMC MLA Nirmal Ghosh, who was arrested from Odisha a day ago over his alleged involvement in the "hurried cremation" of the raped-murdered R G Kar hospital doctor, was assaulted by a mob outside a police station in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on Friday.

Ghosh was greeted with blows and kicks by the crowd when security personnel were escorting him to a prison van outside the Khardah Police Station to take him to Barrackpore sub-divisional court for production.

A visibly distraught Ghosh was also pelted with footwear, eggs and even muck by the mob despite the tight cordon of police and RAF personnel who covered his head with a helmet to minimise damage caused by the attack.

At the Barrackpore court, the TMC leader was also greeted with “chor, chor” slogans by another group of people waiting for him, even as the police rushed the accused to the court lock-up.

A similar treatment was also meted out to another accused Sanjib Mukherjee, the victim family's neighbour and a former TMC councillor of the Panihati municipality, when the police personnel attempted to guide him towards the vehicle meant to transport him to the court.

Mukherjee, who is known to be a close aide of Ghosh, was allegedly present at the Panihati crematorium when the doctor's body was taken there following autopsy procedures.

The former TMC councillor was arrested on Thursday from a hotel hideout in the Simulia police station area in Odisha’s Balasore and had kept his phone in switched-off mode to avoid being traced, police said. He was brought back to Khardah by the officers late Thursday night after securing a transit remand from a court there.

The third accused in the case, former Panihati municipality chairman Somnath Dey, remains absconding, police said.

Sources said that following the two arrests, the complainant, the victim’s father, had visited the Khardah PS on Thursday and recorded his confidential statement with the investigators with regard to what exactly transpired at the burning ghat on the day the victim’s body was cremated.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday praised the Barrackpore police commissioner for arresting Ghosh and his aide.

"On a complaint lodged by the deceased doctor's father, Barrackpore police hunted down two (accused), and the other absconding accused will be arrested soon," Adhikari said.

The suspects were arrested after the deceased’s father lodged a fresh complaint on Monday, which was subsequently converted into an FIR, alleging that Ghosh was among the three who had exerted his influence as then sitting Panihati MLA and forced the "hurried cremation" of his daughter's body against the family’s wishes