Last Updated:
Protesting doctors outside Swasthya Bhavan in Kolkata | Image/PTI
Trinamool Congress claimed that a conspiracy was being hatched to attack the protesting doctors and defame the Mamata Banerjee-led government in the state.
Amid the sit-in protest by the junior doctors outside West Bengal Health Department headquarters, the Trinamool Congress claimed that a conspiracy was being hatched to attack them and defame the Mamata Banerjee-led government in the state on Friday. The police increased the number of cops guarding the health department premises.
The party released a purported audio clip where two people were heard planning an attack on the protesting doctors during their sit-in outside the Swasthya Bhavan, as the protest entered the fifth day on Saturday.
The junior doctors are demanding the sacking of top officials from the health department over the alleged corruption in the medical sector apart from action against the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital last month.
Senior Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh posted the purported audio clip on social media in which two people were heard discussing plans to “attack the junior doctors on their return from Nabanna (state secretariat) on September 12 night”.
On September 12, the junior doctors visited Nabanna to meet Mamata Banerjee for talks. The meeting, however, failed to take place as the state government denied demands of the doctors to live-stream the meeting.
“The audio clip makes it clear that some people wanted to attack the junior doctors last night and they may be at the game again. We have asked the police and security forces to be on alert and ensure it doesn’t happen. We hope to peacefully resolve the issue,” Kunal Ghosh said.
Ghosh said he had credible information that some people were conspiring to infiltrate the protestors and carry on the attack to defame the Trinamool government in West Bengal.
The junior doctors have been staging a sit-in protest outside the Swasthya Bhavan since Monday despite the Supreme Court order directing them to return to duty by the evening of September 10. All this comes amid nationwide outrage against the gruesome rape and murder of a young medic and CBI probing the case.
Security Tightened, CCTV Installed
The Sector-V police station, under the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, launched a suo moto case after Ghosh made the audio clip public. The police have deployed more personnel near the Swasthy Bhavan.
Reports claimed that the police had deployed Rapid Action Force (RAF) contingents, personnel from the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR), women cops as well as several Radio Flying Squad (RFS) units.
Additionally, police installed CCTV cameras near the protest site and asked the protesting doctors to form a team who would be in touch with them.