The rape and murder of the on-duty doctor at R G Kar Hospital on August 9, 2024, had triggered massive protests across the State. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The former Trinamool Congress MLA from Panihati, Nirmal Ghosh, was arrested by the West Bengal Police on Wednesday (August 13, 2026) for his alleged involvement over the hurried cremation of the body of the 31-year-old resident doctor who was raped and murdered in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August, 2024.
The development comes days after the Barrackpore City Police, as per Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s direction, lodged a fresh FIR on Sunday (August 9, 2026) for the alleged hurried cremation of the victim without the consent of her family. The FIR was lodged at the Khardah police station by the victim’s father.
The Chief Minister said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was not looking into the case of hurried cremation. Mr. Adhikari said that signature of family members was not taken at the crematorium.
According to the police officials, the TMC leader immediately fled to Odisha as soon as the FIR was lodged. “He was hiding at a hotel in Puri and was using a new SIM card to elude the police. However, he was only in touch with some of his close aides. After the FIR was lodged, the police started tracking his mobile tower location on Tuesday (August 11, 2026) and traced him to the hotel. In the early hours of Wednesday (August 12, 2026), he was arrested by a team of Khardah police from that hotel,” said an officer from the police station.
Mr. Ghosh is being brought to Kolkata by road and will be produced before the court on Friday (August 14, 2026), said police.
Murder most foul: On the R.G. Kar case
Earlier, the victim’s mother, Ratna Debnath, who is now a BJP MLA from Panihati, moved the Sealdah court on May 13 seeking the arrest of Mr. Ghosh, the local Trinamool Congress councillor, Sanjib Mukhopadhyay, and another party functionary Somnath Das.
It was alleged that he and his associates made attempts to cremate her body hastily to prevent a second autopsy on the victim’s body. She was allegedly cremated without handing over the necessary documents to the victim’s family.
On June 18, a CBI team also visited the crematorium where the victim was cremated. They also interrogated Mr. Ghosh.
Mr. Ghosh, a former MLA from Panihati, also served as the government chief whip of the Mamata Banerjee government. His son, Tirthankar Ghosh, contested the Assembly polls a few months ago from Panihati and lost to Ratna Debnath, the mother of the victim who was the BJP candidate.
Tirthankar Ghosh was arrested in July this year on allegations of extortion and violence. The rape and murder of the on-duty doctor at R G Kar Hospital on August 9, 2024, had triggered massive protests across the State.
Published – August 13, 2026 02:33 pm IST
