‘She died by suicide, hurry’, Kolkata doctor’s family was told in frantic calls

“She has probably died by suicide, please hurry,” the parents of the 31-year-old trainee doctor were told, after she was brutally raped and murdered.

The information was conveyed to the parents in three frantic calls made to them by the Assistant Superintendent of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9.

The calls, made by a staff member, showed the unfolding panic and confusion at the hospital as the student’s condition rapidly deteriorated.

In the first call, the assistant superintendent of RG Kar Hospital can be heard urgently requesting the parents to come to the hospital, stating, “Your daughter is not well. Can you please come to the hospital immediately?”

The father, sensing something was amiss, asked for more details, to which the staff member only replied, “She is not well. We are admitting her. Can you come quickly?”

When pressed further, the staff member hesitated, saying, “The doctors will tell you what happened when you get here. We found your number and called because you are the family”.

The second call came shortly after, with the same hospital staff member sounding even more distressed. “Her condition is very critical. Please come as soon as possible,” she urged. The father, now increasingly worried, demanded to know what had happened, but the response remained vague: “The doctors will explain. Please come here quickly”.

Confusion continued to mount when the father asked who was speaking to him. “I am the assistant superintendent,” the staff member clarified, adding, “I am not a doctor.” The father, desperate for answers, questioned if there were any doctors present, but the call ended abruptly without further clarification.

The third and final call revealed the grim reality of the situation. The staff member, sounding extremely anxious, stated, “She might have committed suicide or died. The police are here. We are at the hospital, in front of everyone, making this call”.

These calls have raised serious questions about the circumstances leading to the trainee doctor’s death and the hospital’s handling of the situation.

The family, devastated by the loss, is now demanding answers from the hospital authorities about what exactly transpired in the critical moments leading up to their daughter’s death.

Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer, who used to frequent the premises of the RG Kar hospital was arrested by the Kolkata Police on August 10, a day after the body of the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor was found in the seminar hall of the hospital.

A Bluetooth device found near the medic’s body led to Roy’s arrest. CCTV footage also showed him on the third floor of the hospital where the seminar hall is situated.

According to CBI sources, Sanjay Roy confessed to the crime during interrogation.

The sequence of events on the night of the murder, as recounted by Roy, is as follows:

August 8: Roy arrived at RG Kar Hospital with his friend to inquire about the friend’s brother, who was admitted there.

At 11:15 PM, Roy and his friend left the hospital and decided to drink alcohol. They purchased alcohol and drank on the road.

They decided to visit Sonagachi, a red light area in north Kolkata.

Unsuccessful in Sonagachi, they decided to go to Chetla, a red light area in South Kolkata.

While travelling to Chetla, they molested a girl on the road.

In Chetla, his friend had sex with a woman while Roy stood outside and talked to his girlfriend on a video call. Roy asked his girlfriend for nude photos, which she sent.

Roy and his friend returned to the hospital. Roy went to the trauma centre on the fourth floor.
At 4:03 AM, Roy was seen on CCTV footage going to the corridor near the seminar hall on the third floor.

Roy entered the seminar hall, where the victim was sleeping, and strangled her.
Roy sexually assaulted the victim, then left the scene and went to the house of friend Anupam Dutta, a Kolkata Police officer.

The Calcutta High Court on August 13 ordered the transfer of the probe from the Kolkata Police to the CBI.

Meanwhile, massive protests erupted in Kolkata and different parts of the country over the death of the trainee doctor, demanding swift action into the case.