The renovation works near the seminar room inside the Chest Medicine Department at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the rape and murder of a post-graduate trainee doctor took place, have sparked a fresh political row.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and Left-Front parties have accused the authorities of the institution of trying to tamper with evidence.
The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DFYI) and Students Federation of India (SFI) -- both affiliated with the CPI(M) -- pointed out that renovation was taking place near the seminar room, where the 31-year-old doctors body was found just last week.
Reportedly, the demolition of a room and a nearby women's washroom was ordered by the hospital authorities on Saturday, both of which are near the seminar room.
Authorities had said that this order came in response to the demand of the students to have a rest area in the Chest Medicine Department.
BJP IT-Cell Head Amit Malviya alleged that the hospital authorities broke down walls in the area to destroy "what could be crucial circumstantial evidence, which could have led the CBI investigating team to the murderers".
Both the groups gathered at the Emergency building gate of the hospital to protest against the alleged attempts of the authorities to destroy evidence.
GANGRAPE CLAIMS
Meanwhile, a doctor associated with the Left-affiliated Joint Forum of Doctors claimed that some of the findings of the post-mortem report suggested that the victim had been raped by more than one person, Indian Express reported.
"It is clear that this is not the work of a single individual she was gangraped," doctor Subarna Goswami, who was with the victim's family when they saw the postmortem report.
According to an NDTV, the parents of the victim told the Calcutta High Court that the autopsy report found 150 mg of semen in the trainee doctor's body, "a quantity suggesting involvement of more than one individual, further corroborated the suspicion of gang rape".
The petition noted that the victim's body several injuries that indicate a brutal and violent attack. "Her lips were injured, indicating that she may have been silenced or gagged during the attack," it added.
EFFORTS TO 'TAMPER EVIDENCE'
Minakshi Mukherjee, DYFI state secretary, who was a part of the protest at the medical college and hospital on Tuesday said, "We believe that the TMC government is trying to hide the real culprits. We will not allow the hospital and medical college authorities to tamper with evidence in the case. They are continuously trying to do that."
"This leaves no one in doubt that Mamata Banerjee was all along eliminating evidences and covering crime trail to protect those involved in the heinous crime, who, it is speculated, happen to be family members of influential TMC leaders," Malviya said in his post on X.
"Repeat: No womanis safe in Bengal," he added.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in Bengal Assembly and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari had also said that they have "already tampered with a lot of evidence".
CPI(M) leader and counsel for the victim's family, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya was cited by Indian Express as saying that medical college authorities cannot demolish or construct anything without the help of the Public Works Department (PWD) and the state government's approval.
"Hence, it is clear that the state government was behind the move," Bikash said.
A civil volunteer, Sanjay Roy, was arrested in connection with the trainee doctor's rape and murder case.
WHAT VICTIM'S FAMILY SAID
According to an India Today report, the victim's family was first told that their daughter had died by suicide, adding that they were made to wait for three hours outside the hospital to see her body.
Recounting the condition in which the victim's body was found, the relative said, "After three hours, they allowed the father to go inside and see her body. He was only allowed to click a picture, which he showed us when he came outside. She had no clothes on her body. Her legs were 90 degrees apart... this cannot happen unless the pelvic girdle breaks, which means she was torn apart."
"Her specs were broken and there were shards of glasses in her eyes. She was choked to death. I am not making this up. This has been proven in the post-mortem too," she was cited as saying by India Today.
