The West Bengal government on Friday (May 15, 2026) suspended three senior IPS officers—Vineet Goyal, Abhishek Gupta, and Indira Mukherjee—in connection with the rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, 2024.

The charges against the three officers are mishandling the initial investigation and allegedly offering a bribe to the victim’s family, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said at a press conference at the State Secretariat.

“The incident involving Abhaya ( R. G. Kar victim) has shaken us to the core and brought disrepute to West Bengal. We have found that there was mishandling of the investigation at the initial stage. There were also allegations of offering money to the family of the victim,” the Chief Minister said.

Mr. Adhikari said that the action followed a fact-finding inquiry conducted by the State’s Chief Secretary and Home Secretary. He added that all three officers would face departmental proceedings and that the version of the family members of the victim would also be considered.

Vineet Goyal, who was Kolkata Police Commissioner at the time of the incident, is at present posted as Director General & Inspector General of Police, Intelligence Branch. The previous Trinamool Congress government had to remove him from the commissioner’s post due to mounting protests over the case. Abhishek Gupta, then Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police ( North), is now serving as Commanding Officer of the Eastern Frontier Rifles, 2nd Battalion, in the rank of DIG.

Indira Mukherjee, then Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police (Central Division), had addressed a controversial press conference at the height of the agitation, where she tried to defend the police’s role. The Chief Minister said she was not the official spokesperson of the Kolkata Police, and her remarks at the media interaction were not well-received by the people. Ms. Mukherjee is currently posted as Special Superintendent, CID, West Bengal.

Mr. Adhikari said the West Bengal government has not looked into the aspect of the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) probe into the case. The CBI had named former Kolkata Police civic volunteer Sanjay Roy as the accused. In January 2025, a court convicted Roy and awarded him life imprisonment.

Delivering justice to the victim was one of the promises of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls. The BJP had fielded Ratna Debnath, who won from the Panihati Assembly seat.

In another development, 23 mobile phones were seized during a surprise raid at Presidency Central Correctional Home. The State government later suspended Superintendent of the correctional home N. Kujur, and Chief Controller of the facility Dipto Gorai.

Mr. Adhikari said the CID would look into the case and warned officials of correctional homes across the State to end any existing nexus with inmates or face action.