An image showing an individual cutting a cake in the presence of former principal of RG Kar Medical College Sandip Ghosh is viral with the claim that it shows rape accused Sanjoy Roy cutting cake in Ghosh's office, insinuating a connection between the two. The same was also reported as news by Republic, Times Now Bangla, and Zee News.
BOOM found these claims to be false; our fact-check reveals that the man seen cutting cake in the viral images is not Sanjoy Roy, but Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH) employee Prasun Chatterjee. Furthermore, a representative of CNMCH confirmed to BOOM that the man in the photo cutting cake is Prasun Chatterjee.
A 31-year old trainee doctor was raped and murdered while on night shift duty at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, 2024. The victim, a second-year MD student in the Chest Medicine department, was found murdered in the hospital's seminar hall. The tragic crime has sparked nationwide protests by the medical fraternity and civil society groups calling for safety of women in India. The incident has led to a flurry of false and misleading claims along with conspiracy theories on social media.
The viral image shows a person wearing a striped sweater next to an individual sitting in what appears to be an office. It is being widely shared as an image of Sanjoy Roy, the primary accused in the crime, celebrating his birthday with Ghosh, who is also being questioned by the CBI, and had recently gone through a lie detector test.
User shared the image with English, Bangla and Hindi captions, insinuating that the person seen cutting the cake is Sanjoy Roy.
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The same was also reported by multiple media outlets including Republic, Zee News, and Times Now Bangla.
Click here to view an archive of the above article.
Fact Check
BOOM did a reverse image search of the viral image, which led us to a recent post on Instagram carrying the exact image, posted by the account of Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH).
The post was shared demanding action against corruption at CNMCH, and against the person seen in the photo, who was identified in the post as Prasun Chatterjee, data entry operator at CNMCH.
Taking cue from this, we performed some keyword searches on social media platforms, and came across a post from 2020, which included a collage of photos showing the same two individuals in the exact same setting.
The caption of the post read, "Birthday celebration, of Prasun Chatterjee at MSVP office, CNMCH."