Several posts misidentifying an intern at RG Kar Medical College as the son of former West Bengal minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Soumen Mahapatra are circulating, alleging that the TMC leader's son was involved in the rape and murder of a junior doctor.
BOOM spoke to Soumen Mahapatra, who refuted the viral claims about Subhadip Singha Mahapatra being his son interning at RG Kar Medical College. He clarified that his son, Bodhisattwa Mahapatra, is a doctor currently serving as the Block Medical Officer of Health (BMOH) at the Panskura 1 Block Health Center in Purba Medinipur district and has no professional or educational connection with RG Kar Hospital.
In a Facebook post West Bengal Police further stated that the intern has not been missing as alleged in viral posts.
On August 17, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Hospital, where a doctor's body was discovered in a seminar room on August 9. Although Kolkata police have already arrested one accused Sanjoy Roy in connection with the murder, opposition leaders have accused the ruling TMC government of attempting to destroy evidence related to the case. Additionally, the deceased doctor's father told Decode that the hospital authorities have been uncooperative with the family from the very beginning.
Several X users shared a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation along with some images, captioning it as, "That's not the murderer .. that's the scapegoat TMC planted .. Murderers are here ..TMC's Soumen Mahapatra's son interning in RG Kar and is underground since then, Arshean Alam, Shahbaz Golam .."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Fact Check
In a post from August 15, 2024, on the official West Bengal police Facebook page, it was stated that Subhadip Singha Mahapatra is from Bankura and his father Prabir Singha Mahapatra is a primary school teacher by profession. The post also clarified that Subhadip is not missing and has been in the hospital since the day of the incident. He has also spoken to Kolkata Police during investigation.
Click here to view the post.
The post also carried a video statement from Subhadip's father, Prabir Singha Mahapatra, who clarified that he and his family do not know Soumen Mahapatra personally. He also mentioned that he has filed an FIR at the Tala Police Station in Kolkata regarding the false claims.
We then reached out to TMC MLA Soumen Mahapatra for his comments on the claims. Mahapatra clarified that the allegations are false and that his son, Bodhisattwa Mahapatra, neither share an educational nor a professional connection with RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata.
Soumen Mahapatra told BOOM, "In 2017-2018, my son completed an internship at SSKM Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. He then did house-staff training at the SSKM Trauma Care Centre. Subsequently, he joined Panskura Super Speciality Hospital as a General Duty Medical Officer (GDMO) after passing the examination. After working there for two years, he was promoted to Block Medical Officer of Health (BMOH) and transferred to the Panskura 1 Block Health Center at Pitpur village, where he has been working for the past two years. He has no connection with RG Kar Medical College whatsoever."
Mahapatra further stated that these false claims have posed a threat on his son Bodhisattwa Mahapatra's life and his family.