Kolkata rape case: Ex-head of India college held over ‘evidence tampering’

India’s federal investigating agency has arrested the former principal of a medical college in the eastern city of Kolkata on charges of tampering with evidence linked to the rape and murder of a junior female doctor, a case that triggered weeks of nationwide protests.

Dr Sandip Ghosh, former principal of the RG Kar Medical College, was arrested along with police officer Abhijit Mondal by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) late on Saturday.

Ghosh, and others, allegedly delayed declaring the victim’s death as well as filing a first information report (FIR), a formal police complaint, which led to the destruction of vital evidence, according to additional charges filed by the CBI before a court, the Reuters news agency reported.

He was already in judicial custody after being arrested by the agency in a case related to corruption in the college on September 2.

The 31-year-old victim, whose body was found at the medical college in early August, set off a wave of protests across the country, and the demand for greater safety for women in the workplace as well as justice for the victim.

The lawyer representing Ghosh could not be immediately reached for comment.

Mondal, the officer in charge of the police station that has jurisdiction over the college, was also charged for failing to protect the crime scene, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Asked about Mondal’s arrest, a senior Kolkata police official said: “We will respond to the charges in court.”

The two arrests come more than a month after the prime suspect was arrested by Kolkata police and charged with rape and murder.

Junior doctors in the eastern state of West Bengal, of which Kolkata is the capital, have decided to continue their protests until the victim gets justice.

The doctors have been joined in their protests by an enraged citizenry, with thousands of women and men marching in Kolkata and cities across the country for weeks, demanding justice and better safety measures in hospitals.

Activists say the doctor’s rape and murder showed how women in India continue to face sexual violence despite tougher laws introduced after the 2012 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi, the national capital.

That attack had spurred politicians to order harsher penalties for such crimes and set up fast-track courts dedicated to rape cases. The government also introduced the death penalty for repeat offenders but has not been able to check rising crimes against women.

Crimes against women in India rose 4 percent in 2022 from the previous year, data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), released late last year, showed.