Shocking audio clips from the phone calls, allegedly made by the authorities of the Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on the morning of August 9 to the parents of the postgraduate trainee doctor who was raped and murdered inside the medical facility's premises, surfaced on social media on Thursday.
The phone calls have sparked fresh outrage among doctors and public over "insensitivity" and "disinformation" of the institute's way of breaking bad news to the kins.
The repeatedly changed statements made by the authorities on the victim's status over those phone calls have raised questions on whether the medical facility was initially trying to cover up the brutal crime.
Outlook India has not independently verified the audio clips.
As per news agency PTI, the caller -- a woman identifying herself as the assistant superintendent of the hospital -- reportedly called the victim's parents thrice from the same number within a period of half an hour, asking them to urgently come to RG Kar Medical College.
THE FIRST CALL
"I am calling from RG Kar hospital. Can you come over immediately?" the caller was heard telling the victim's father in the first phone call around 10:53 am.
The father responded asking what has happened, to which the caller replied saying that his daughter "has fallen a little ill" and they are admitting her to the hospital. "Can you come down quickly?" she asked.
When the parents pressed for more details, the caller said, "Those details only doctors can provide. We only managed to find your number and call you. Please come down quickly. The patient has been admitted after falling ill. The rest, doctors will brief you after you arrive."
"Is she running a fever?" the worried mother of the victim was heard asking. The caller replied, "Come over quickly."
Again the father asked, "Is her condition very serious?", to which the caller said, "Yes, she is very serious. Come quickly."
The first call lasted for a minute and 11 seconds.
THE SECOND CALL
Five minutes after the first call, the authorities made another call which last for around 46 seconds. Assumingly the same caller was heard saying, "Her condition is critical, very critical. Please come over as soon as you can."
The desperate father once again asked her as to what had happened to his daughter, however the answer from the other side remained the same, "Only doctors can say that. You please come over."
When the father asked as to who was making the call, the person identified herself as the assistant superintendent, clarifying that she was not a doctor. "We have brought your daughter to the emergency ward. You please come over and contact us," she added.
But the response did not calm the parents, the victim's mother from behind was heard asking, "But what could have happened to her? She was on duty."
"You come over quickly, as soon as you can," the reply came from the hospital's end.
THE THIRD CALL
The third and final was the one where the hospital told the parents that their daughter had died, however, with a twist.
"Yes, please listen...we were repeatedly telling you before... your daughter... may have... died by suicide... or, she may have passed away. The police are here. All of us from the hospital are here. We are calling you to ask you to come down quickly," perceptively the same voice said in broken sentences.
The final call last for about 28 seconds.
The repeated changes in the statements have raised several questions about the hospital's credibility and manner of dealing with such a news.
An official said that the clear changes in the RG Kar hospital's statements, from the victim "falling a little ill" to "very critical and admitted in emergency ward" to finally, "may have died by suicide" have left the investigators to question whether "a carefully planned suicide plot was being hatched by the hospital authorities and police to cover up the crime".
"Especially since the caller admitted in her final call, while misleading the family on the cause of the victim's death, that she was speaking in the presence of police and hospital authorities," the official added.
It is irrelevant to mention that the first GD entry of the crime at Tallah police station which mentioned "unnatural death" was made much before the first call was made to the parents from the hospital, the official said.
"How could the hospital management, fully aware of the gruesomeness of the crime, be so nonchalant and manipulative in breaking the news to the parents," a student protester was quoted as asking by news agency PTI.
Kolkata Police DCP Indira Mukherjee reacted to the purported audio clips on Thursday and said, "We heard some audio clips that were rolled by many channels...No such comments have been made by Kolkata Police. We never said that it was a suicide."
RECAP
The body of a postgraduate trainee doctor was found at the seminar hall of the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9. The case, which was initially being probed by the Kolkata Police, was later transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Doctors and citizens alike, across the nation, staged massive protests, demanding justice for the victim and enhanced security measures for doctors at their workplace.
Notably, police had arrested one civic volunteer, Sanjay Roy, as the main accused and he also reportedly gave them details of the ghastly crime without showing any remorse.
Meanwhile, former principal of the medical facility, Dr Sandip Ghosh -- who resigned from the post two days after the victim's body was found -- also came under the federal probe agency's scanner and has been interrogated several times in this regard. Ghosh also underwent a polygraphy test at the CBI office.
The Supreme Court took suo moto cognisance of the case and said that the nation cannot wait for another rape for things to change the ground. The top court also formed a 10-member task force to formulate a national protocol for ensuring safety and facilities for doctors.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently apologised over the rape and murder case and promised a law to strictly punish offenders. Mamata said that she would call an Assembly session and pass a Bill within ten days to ensure capital punishment for rapists.
