Former Trinamool Congress MLA Nirmal Ghosh has been arrested from Odisha in connection with a fresh FIR linked to the alleged 'hurried cremation' of the RG Kar rape-murder victim in August 2024, police sources said.
Ghosh, a former MLA from Panihati, was arrested from a hotel near Puri on Thursday morning.
The FIR was filed on Monday at Khardaha police station by the father of the young doctor who was raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The complaint names Ghosh, former local councillor Somnath Dey and neighbour Sanjib Mukhopadhyay over allegations that the victim’s body was cremated in haste and that political influence was used during the process.
According to police sources, Ghosh went into hiding in neighbouring Odisha soon after the FIR was registered. He allegedly changed his SIM card to avoid detection while remaining in contact with a few close associates. Investigators tracked his movements through the mobile tower location and raided a hotel near Puri at around 9 am on Thursday, where he was taken into custody.
Ghosh is expected to be produced before an Odisha court before being brought to Kolkata on transit remand. Police may produce him before the Barrackpore court on Friday.
Reacting to the arrest, state Health Minister Shardwat Mukhopadhyay said, “This should have happened earlier.”
The arrest comes days after the second death anniversary of the student doctor. During a memorial event in Panihati on Sunday, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari directed the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate to examine what had happened at the crematorium where the victim’s last rites were performed.
The victim’s family has alleged that local authorities had rushed the cremation at the Natagarh Kadamtala crematorium under the Ghola police station. The family has questioned why Ghosh and the two other accused were allegedly so active in ensuring that the body was cremated quickly. The cremation fee was also reportedly waived.
The Chief Minister had alleged that illegal actions were involved in the cremation process and claimed that the victim’s body, which was third in line at the crematorium that day, was cremated ahead of the others. He had also raised questions over the role of influential local figures, saying, “Nirmal Ghosh, Somnath Dey and Sanjib Mukhopadhyay together carried out the entire episode.”
The fresh complaint filed by the victim’s father contains similar allegations. According to the complaint, the doctor’s body was cremated soon after it was handed over to the family following the post-mortem on August 9, 2024. The family alleges that political influence was used to pressure them into taking the body to the crematorium quickly, leaving several relatives without enough time to pay their final respects.
Police began investigating the allegations after the FIR was registered at Khardaha police station.
Ghosh has also faced several other allegations, including extortion, displaying illegal firearms and forcibly taking lottery tickets. His son, Tirthankar Ghosh, who is the Trinamool Congress candidate from Panihati in the latest Assembly election, was arrested from Dakshineswar on July 13 in connection with these allegations. Nirmal Ghosh, meanwhile, had largely remained out of public view.
He was, however, seen attending a meeting organised by the Rituparna Bandyopadhyay camp of the Trinamool Congress in July. The camp later said Ghosh had not been invited and had arrived on his own towards the end of the meeting.
“We are determined to keep out the unwanted elements. A sieve is being put in place to keep them out,” MLA Sandipan Saha of the Rituparna camp had said at the time.
Ghosh had denied attending the meeting, saying he had gone there to meet Kasba MLA Javed Khan.
Known locally as “Nantu”, Ghosh served as the Trinamool Congress MLA from Panihati for three consecutive terms in 2011, 2016 and 2021.
