Kolkata, March 23 (IANS) The parents of the doctor who became the victim of the ghastly rape and murder within the premises at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, in August 2024, have accepted the basic membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), confirmed the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari on Monday.

However, he added, the party leadership is yet to decide whether any one of them would be the party candidate from Panihati Assembly Constituency in North 24 Parganas district, where the victim and her parents are voters.

The BJP has published two lists of candidates for the forthcoming two-phase Assembly polls in West Bengal scheduled next month, but it has yet to announce its candidate from Panihati.

“Whether any one of the family members of the victim’s family will be the candidate from Panihati or not will be decided by our party’s central leadership. The state committee had already forwarded its opinion in the matter to the central leadership, which I should not disclose right now. Now the final decision in the matter rests with our party’s central leadership,” said LoP Adhikari on Monday night.

Notably, the body of the victim, a lady doctor, was recovered from within the R.G. Kar premises on the morning of August 9, 2024. The Kolkata Police started the investigation into the matter and arrested the sole convict in the case, Sanjay Roy, an erstwhile civic volunteer of the city police, as the sole accused in the case.

Later, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took charge of the investigation into the matter following an order of the Calcutta High Court, and the central agency too identified Sanjay Roy as the sole accused in the crime of rape and murder.

Later, the trial court in Kolkata convicted Roy as the sole convict in that crime and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Later, CBI challenged the order at the Calcutta High Court and sought the death penalty for Roy.

--IANS

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