The Bengal branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has demanded the suspension of Sushanta Kumar Roy, the vice-president of West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC), and four other members from the council while mentioning that their names have come up in the RG Kar incident.

After the brutal rape and murder of the junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, it was alleged that Roy, who is based in Jalpaiguri, had reached the site of the incident with some other members of the council — an autonomous body that provides registration to qualified doctors.

Dilip Kumar Datta, the state president of IMA, has sent a letter to Sudipta Kumar Roy, the president of WBMC, seeking the suspension of Roy and four others — Avik Dey, Birupaksha Biswas, Dipanjan Haldar and Tapas Chakraborty.

Dey, who is known to be a close associate of former RGMCH principal Sandip Ghosh, was also associated with Trinamul Chhatra Parishad (TMCP). A couple of days ago, Dey was suspended from TMCP and the state health department suspended him and Biswas from their jobs on Thursday.

Both of them were posted as PGTs in different hospitals in the state.

“Until the investigation of the RG Kar case is over, the WBMC should keep them under suspension. Also, the president should step down from his post to upkeep the sanctity of the council,” said a senior doctor and a member of the IMA in Siliguri.

In protest of the RG Kar incident, two senior doctors — Dipanjan Bandyopadhyay and Suman Mukherjee — have resigned from their posts in WBMC.

On Wednesday, Dey’s name figured prominently in the protests organised by junior doctors and students at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH). Dey and a few others, who were associated with the TMCP, had indulged in malpractices during exams, the protesters had alleged.

The dean and the assistant dean of NBMCH had to resign from their posts because of the protests. Also, the principal announced the formation of a committee to probe into the allegations.

In Raiganj, many students and former students of Sudarshanpur Dwarikaprasad Uchcha Vidyachakra, a reputable higher secondary school of the town, have demanded that Roy be removed from the committee of alumni and that his name be deleted from the list of students who had passed out from the institution.

In 1973, Roy passed his higher secondary examination from the school and was the topper of the batch, sources said.

Roy, an eye specialist, was deputed as the officer on special duty of the state health department in north Bengal during the Covid-19 pandemic. He, however, is not in any official post now but is the vice-president of WBMC.

“We have come to know that Sushanta Kumar Roy’s name has figured in the RG Kar incident. He is a former student of my school. Considering the present state of affairs, he should be removed from the association of former students. Being an ex-student of Vidyachakra, I am not ready to share the platform with him,” said Dinesh Jha, a former student.

Bhaskar Bhattacharya, an executive member of the alumni association, spoke on similar lines. “The school authorities should also delete his name from all the records until he comes out clean. It is disappointing for all of us, be it a former student, a current student or a teacher. He might be an excellent student but in the current situation, such a step is necessary to keep up the school’s reputation,” said Bhattacharya.

The school authorities, however, are yet to make any decision. “We will hold a meeting soon to discuss the demands,” said Abhijit Dutta, the headmaster.

Calls made to Roy went unanswered. He also didn’t reply to the WhatsApp messages sent to him.