Nurse found dead at nursing home in Bengal’s Singur, family alleges foul play

A 24-year-old nurse was found dead at a private nursing home in West Bengal's Hooghly district, police said on Friday, triggering political unrest and allegations of a cover-up.

Tensions escalated as supporters of the CPI(M)'s student and youth wings and the BJP Yuva Morcha mobbed the vehicle carrying the woman's body, which was brought from Walsh Hospital morgue in Hooghly district to Kolkata for post-mortem.

According to police, the woman, a resident of Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district, had joined the nursing home four days ago.

She was found hanging from a ceiling in a room on the third floor of the facility in Singur on Thursday.

While the nursing home management claimed it to be a case of suicide, the woman's family has alleged she was sexually assaulted and murdered, saying she had uncovered irregularities in the nursing home's operations.

"We have no faith in any post-mortem examination conducted at a state hospital," the woman's father said.

"We want the autopsy to be done at AIIMS Kalyani or Command Hospital, Alipore, to ensure a fair and transparent investigation," he demanded.

Meanwhile, there was high drama when members of the CPI(M)'s student wing, SFI, and the BJP Yuva Morcha gathered outside the hospital in Kolkata where the body was brought for post-mortem.

Both sides traded charges against each other that they were involved in a nexus with local TMC leaders and were trying to shield the nursing home management so that the real reason behind the nurse's death never comes out "like the RG Kar rape and murder".

SFI state secretary Debanjan Dey said, "The BJP is trying to deflect the focus from the reason behind the death of a sister. As our comrades arrived at the medical college to prevent any attempt to cover up the real reason behind the death, the BJP Yuva Morcha workers arrived at the spot and created a ruckus to help TMC."

Contradicting their claim, BJP Yuva Morcha leader Tamaghna Ghosh said, "The family of the deceased wants post-mortem examination of their daughter to be conducted at a central government-run hospital - either AIIMS Kalyani or Command Hospital, Alipore. Our workers have assembled at the spot to be on the side of the family and ensure police cannot whisk them away and conduct the process at a state hospital to suppress facts."

He also alleged that the SFI was working covertly to help TMC.

"We will not allow them to repeat another botched up post-mortem examination like the one conducted at RG Kar following the rape-murder of the medic a year ago," Ghosh alleged.

A senior Hooghly district police official said they were investigating the case.

"We are waiting for the autopsy report before taking action," the official said.

The opposition BJP and CPI(M) held demonstrations in the area after the body was found on Thursday, alleging that the nurse was murdered and possibly subjected to sexual torture.

State minister Becharam Manna, who is the local TMC MLA, said action will be taken if police investigation finds foul play in her death.

TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said both the BJP and CPI(M) have ganged up to do politics over the unnatural death of a young woman.

The father of the deceased woman told reporters, "I don't have faith in the post-mortem examination conducted by state establishments. My daughter's body was first taken to Walsh Hospital morgue against our wishes. And then, despite our objection, police took the body to Kolkata for autopsy, which is also against our wish. We want the post-mortem to be done at either AIIMS Kalyani or Command Hospital or any other central hospital," he added.

Deputy Commissioner (Central) Indira Mukherjee confirmed that the body is being kept at the Kolkata Police morgue on the medical college campus under strict security.

She added that police will approach the Calcutta High Court on August 16 to seek permission for conducting the autopsy at a central hospital, which requires judicial approval.