On the morning of August 9, a series of phone calls shattered the lives of an elderly couple in North Kolkata. Their 31-year-old daughter, a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, had spoken to her mother the previous night around 11:30 PM, unaware it would be their last conversation. The next morning, three phone calls within half an hour delivered the devastating news that their daughter had been found dead under mysterious circumstances.
First Call: A Grim Warning
The first call came at 10:53 AM from a woman who later identified herself as the Assistant Superintendent of the hospital. According to the parents, the call was vague, offering little information. Media has accessed the audio of the call, revealing the parents’ desperate attempts to understand what had happened.
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 doctor.”
Victim’s Father: “There are 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.”
Second Call: Growing Anxiety
As the parents rushed to the hospital, a second call came in, this time from a male voice, adding to their anxiety.
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.”
Third Call: The Heartbreaking Truth
In the third and final call, the Assistant Superintendent revealed the devastating news that their daughter had likely died by suicide.
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 (screaming in the background): “My daughter is no more.”
Parents’ Agony and Legal Scrutiny
The hospital’s handling of the communication and the subsequent events has been heavily scrutinized in both the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court. The parents, in their petition to the high court, alleged that they were deliberately kept waiting for three hours before being allowed to see their daughter’s body. Kolkata Police, however, disputes this, claiming the parents arrived at the hospital at 1:00 PM and were taken to the seminar hall where the body was found just 10 minutes later.
The courts have also questioned why the hospital administration, under then principal Dr. Sandip Ghosh, did not file a formal police complaint, leading to a delay in the registration of an FIR, which only occurred late that night after the victim’s father lodged a formal complaint.
Speaking to the media, the victim’s father described the horrific moment he saw his 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.
The case continues to raise serious questions about the circumstances surrounding the young doctor’s death and the hospital’s response.