SR Anaesthesia of Jhargram Medical College Found Dead in Hotel Room
Doctor shot dead
Jhargram: Amid the ongoing investigation, court proceedings, and controversies surrounding the RG Kar incident, a shocking incident of death has been reported in West Bengal's Jhargram district, where a senior resident doctor at the Jhargram Medical College & Hospital, was found dead in mysterious circumstances in a hotel room in the town.
The deceased doctor has been identified as Dr Bhattacharya, a senior resident attached to the Anaesthesia Department of the medical college and hospital, IANS has reported. Officials informed that he was found dead in a hotel room in Jhargram town on Thursday afternoon.
While the investigation is still ongoing to ascertain the reason of his death, police are suspecting it to be a case of suicide. Meanwhile, Jhargram district police had recovered the body of the victim and sent it for a post-mortem examination. For the time being, the district police have registered a case of unnatural death and launched an investigation. The exact reason for the death will only be known after the autopsy report is available.
According to some of his colleagues, he had been long vocal against the "threat culture" prevailing in different medical colleges & hospitals in the state including that of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital, which had recently been in the national headlines because of the ghastly rape and murder of a woman junior doctor there in August this year.
Also Read: Threat Culture Row: Junior Doctor Faces Legal Notice Over 'Notorious Criminal' Remarks
What has made the death even more mysterious is his last message posted in a WhatsApp group of doctors where he claimed that when he was attached to R.G. Kar, he had been vocal against the threat culture there. He also claimed in the message that those who instil fear among students, and support nepotism are no less guilty than R.G. Kar's former Principal Sandip Ghosh, who is currently in judicial custody.
In the message, he had also reportedly claimed that such people are responsible for the depression, anxiety, and hopelessness of thousands of young doctors.
"Shame on all those teachers and faculties, who supported threat culture, stood with corruption and the corrupted just to save their ass from govt job. Shame on u all, for still supporting them and threatening the students who selflessly fought for the truth. If anyone fails to qualify and gets any threat from any of u, in the near future, be it HOD or any other faculty.. my soul will haunt u and tear u down to pieces. The people who instills fear among all students, supports nepotism, loves buttering and oiling the higher authority to feed their egos, are nothing less than Sandip Ghosh. Rip to all of them. U ppl are the reason of depression, anxiety, worthlessness, hopelessness of thousands of young doctors, who are seeing everyday how evil and criminals are worshipped in today's society. Where standing by the truth, standing with justice is considered a crime. U all r responsible! U hv blood on ur hands.!" read the doctor's suicide note, which was shared by a doctor in the Department of General Surgery on X (formerly Twitter).
It is learnt that on seeing the message in the WhatsApp Group on Thursday afternoon, the other doctors in the group tried to contact him over the phone but found it was switched off. Thereafter, they reached the hotel where the Bhattacharya had been staying.
Meanwhile, police sources revealed that the doctor reportedly sent several messages to his wife before his death. He reportedly asked his wife to start a new life after his death. Part of the message referred to 'old sores' that still remains. Further, the message also referred to the RG Kar incident. He wrote that people choose to be blind despite witnessing the dirt, injustice and filth in this world. "Can anyone live like this? What world are we living in? Don't want to wake up, don't want to stay awake, just darkness all around," read his message, Anandabazar has reported.
A large part of the message mentions about the instability of personal life, tension in marital relationship with wife, and bitter memories from the past. He also mentioned in the message that he did not want to get married before getting over the old memories. However, as per the message, the doctor claimed that he was a victim of the situation.
As per the daily, police is currently investigating whether there is any connection with this message or not. Commenting on the matter, the Superintendent of Police at Jhargram, Arijit Singh said, "The body of a doctor has been recovered. An autopsy has been sent to find out the cause of death. An autopsy will be conducted on Friday. A message was recovered from the mobile. That is also being looked into."
While the police superintendent did not comment on whether the RG Kar incident was also mentioned in the message or not, he added, "The messages sent to the wife mentioned personal, professional and emotional problems. Family and emotional problems are given more importance. We will also bring the remaining matters under investigation."
