Coming down heavily on the vandalism and violence at RG Kar Medical College, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attributed it to political outsiders while denying the role of the students.

The incident occurred late on August 14 when a mob reportedly entered the hospital campus and damaged the property and disrupted a protest site.

“I have received information that outsiders, some political party workers of ‘Baam and Ram’, were responsible for this. Students have no role in it. I condemn the incident and I will hold a rally tomorrow demanding a hanging sentence for the rape accused,” Mamata was quoted as saying by a news website.

Banerjee cited the presence of flags from both the Left and the BJP at the scene to prove her point and criticised the manner in which the mob attacked the police. “I saw flags of the Left and BJP… the way they attacked the police. One of my officers-in-charge was missing for one hour. Later, he was found wounded. But the police did not list the patients. They did not use force. We have done a lot of aandolan (agitation) and never done things like that inside a hospital,” the Trinamool Congress leader remarked.

The chief minister’s comments came amid soaring tensions in the city following the brutal rape and murder of a junior doctor at the medical college, an incident that has sparked outrage and protests among the medical community across the country.

On Wednesday night, the mob vandalised vehicles and public property forcing security officials to use force to disperse them. Anupam Roy, a final-year MBBS student, expressing concern over the situation, accused the mob of deliberately targeting the protest site. “When the mob entered, we ran for safety. The assailants vandalised the place destroying everything that came their way. They did not stop there, but moved to target the protest in a well organised manner,” Roy alleged.

Meanwhile, the Kolkata Police issued a statement clarifying that the crime scene related to the rape and murder investigation remained untouched during the vandalism. “The crime scene is the seminar room and it has not been touched. Don’t spread unverified news. We will initiate legal action for spreading rumours,” the police said in a post on social media platform ‘X’.