Principal worried about ‘psychological effect’ on medicos of police probe

Korban was an embroidery artisan in Uluberia suffering from severe depression.

The extent of the principal’s “concern” can be gauged from the fact that she has asked officials of the Lalbazar police station to “intimate” her before entering the boys’ hostel to question students and anyone else. Her decision came after officials arrived at the hostel earlier in the day and questioned six people – none of them students. While three were hostel staff, the other three were masons.

“I had no idea about their arrival today and taking away six persons for questioning. I will write to them about it,” a fuming Bandopadhyay said.

The students, too, are seemingly concerned and so have filed a complaint with their principal against the media persons. “They have lodged a complaint that reporters are harassing them,” she said.

The principal’s “protective” stand in favour of her students has left many at the Lalbazar police station “unhappy” as official sources said “she is not co-operating with the investigation”.

“We sent a letter requesting her to let us know who the boarders were at the hostel when the incident happened but she did not care to reply,” an official said on the condition of anonymity.

Sources at the Lalbazar also said one of the masons who had spoken to the media on the day the incident took place has since gone missing. The police have also not been able to find out why, if at all, he was dismissed from work. The unidentified, missing mason had said at the time that he had seen the students beating up Korban.

If the intriguing developments suggest at a possible cover-up, Home Secretary Basudev Banerjee is quick to remind that “nobody has told us, in fact no body can, to protect anyone or hush up the matter”. “I have spoken to the Kolkata police commissioner and I want to tell you that the perpetrators of the crime will definitely be caught. The question of any hush up does not arise at all. Since so many people were involved (in the killing), the police are taking time. But they are moving towards the people who committed this heinous crime,’’ Banerjee told The Indian Express.

Nirmal Majhi, parliamentary secretary in the department of health and secretary, Indian Medical Association and Progressive Doctors’ Association – affiliated with the Trinamool Congress – said members of his organisation visited the victim’s house, where reside seven-month-pregnant Arjina Begum (sKorban’s wife) and their four minor children, and gave them food and other things.

“The incident was barbaric and the Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) is hurt. She has given instructions that the criminals have to be arrested,” Majhi said.

Earlier in the day, Arjina lodged an FIR with the Entally police station against the medical students of the NRS hostel. She came to the police station accompanied by her mother, four children and other relatives.

The complaint said Korban was killed by the students on November 16 and that no one has been arrested so far. She demanded punishment for offenders and also requested authorities to help in raising her kids as she has no other means to earn a livelihood. A senior official of Entally PS said the complaint letter will be made part of the case diary.

In the middle of all this, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) wants to find out if there were any outsiders involved in the incident. Dr Shantanu Sen, secretary of IMA, said they have written to the commissioner of police, the health secretary, principal of NRS and the state director of medical education about arresting the offenders and finding out whether there were outsiders when the incident happened.

“We have said that the offenders must be identified and punished. In the beginning, when one of the witnesses who was a mason said he had seen the students beating up Korban, it must be looked into how he got access into the building,” Sen said.