3 disturbing calls to parents; the harrowing morning of Kolkata doctor’s murder

PTC News Desk: On the morning of August 9, a seemingly ordinary day turned into a nightmare for a middle-class family in North Kolkata. The family’s daughter, a dedicated doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, had left for her shift the previous evening. She had called her mother around 11:30 pm to check in, just as she always did. Her mother, unaware that this would be their last conversation, ended the call shortly thereafter.

By the next morning, the family’s life was irreversibly shattered. NDTV has obtained audio recordings of three phone calls made to the victim’s parents on the morning after the 31-year-old doctor’s rape and murder at the hospital. The audio captures the confusion and shock that the elderly parents endured before reaching the hospital to find their daughter’s brutalized body.

The First Call

According to court documents, the victim’s parents received the first call at 10:53 am from a woman later identified as the Assistant Superintendent of the hospital. While the Kolkata Police’s timeline submitted to the Supreme Court mentions this call, it only states that the official “informed them” without detailing the conversation. However, the audio files reveal a series of three calls in total, with the first call conveying that something was seriously wrong but withholding the full extent of the tragedy.

Transcript of the First Call:

Victim’s Father: What has happened, please tell me.

Caller: Her condition is very bad, please come as soon as possible.

Victim’s Father: Please tell us what has happened.

Caller: The doctor will say that, you come fast.

Victim’s Father: Who are you?

Caller: I am the assistant super, not a doctor.

Victim’s Father: Are there no doctors there?

Caller: I am the assistant super. We have brought your daughter to the Emergency. You come and contact us.

Victim’s Mother: What happened to her? She was on duty.

Caller: You come fast, as soon as possible.

The Second Call

The second call, made shortly after the first, featured a male voice. By this time, the parents were already en route to the hospital.

Transcript of the Second Call:

Caller: I am speaking from RG Kar (hospital).

Victim’s Mother: Yes, please say.

Caller: You are coming, right?

Victim’s Mother: Yes, we are coming. How is she now?

Caller: You come, we will talk. Come to RG Kar Hospital’s chest department HOD.

Victim’s Mother: Okay.

The Third Call

It was not until the third call that the parents were informed that their daughter had died by suicide. This detail has been a point of contention in court, with judges questioning why the parents were initially misled. The third call was from the Assistant Superintendent, who had made the first call.

Transcript of the Third Call:

Victim’s Father: Hello.

Caller: This is the Assistant Super.

Victim’s Father: Yes.

Caller: The matter is that your daughter has probably died by suicide. She is dead, police are here, we are all here, please come as soon as possible.

Victim’s Father: We are coming, right away.

Victim’s Mother (screams in the background): My daughter is no more.

A Fight for Justice

The hospital administration’s handling of the communication with the victim’s parents has been heavily scrutinised in both the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court. In their petition to the High Court, the parents alleged that they were made to wait for three hours, suggesting that this delay might have been intentional.

However, Kolkata Police’s timeline contradicts this claim. According to their records, the parents arrived at the hospital at 1 pm and were taken to the seminar hall, where their daughter’s body was found, just ten minutes later.

The courts have also questioned why the hospital administration, led by then-principal Dr. Sandip Ghosh, did not file a formal police complaint immediately, forcing the police to register an unnatural death case. An FIR was only filed late at night after the victim’s father submitted a formal complaint.

The father of the victim later recounted the heart-wrenching moment when they saw their daughter’s body. “Only I know what I went through when I saw her. There were no clothes on her body. She was only draped in a bedsheet. Her legs were apart, with one hand on her head,” he said.

This tragic case has left a deep mark on Kolkata, raising questions about hospital protocols, police procedures, and the pursuit of justice for a promising young doctor whose life was brutally cut short. The parents continue their fight for accountability and justice for their daughter, who had dedicated her life to saving others.

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