A video controversy is getting embedded in the ‘Justice for RG Kar’ protests, which started in the aftermath of the rape-murder of the 31-year-old trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

Hours after the ruling Trinamul streamed a video of the victim’s parents at the party’s headquarters debunking an earlier video that had claimed the family was offered money by the police, the parents on Thursday evening told the Bengali news channel ABP Ananda, that they were forced to make the statement.

On Wednesday from a dais at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the hospital’s junior doctors have been on a protest since the rape and murder committed in the wee hours of August 9, the family members had alleged that the Calcutta Police had offered them money while their daughter’s corpse found in a mutilated condition on the seminar room of the chest department, was waiting for cremation.

The state minister Panja had debunked the statements made by the victim’s family as “fake video”.

“They are going through such a difficult time we cannot even imagine. At such a juncture a video is doing the rounds claiming the parents were offered money to bury the case by the police. Alongside, another video has emerged where the parents have denied that anyone had offered them any money, they have said this is completely false and they only want justice for the daughter whom they have lost,” Panja said during the press conference at the Trinamul Bhawan on Thursday as she instructed the Trinamul’s IT cell volunteers to play the video.

The video was streamed in the presence of the two state ministers, Bratya Basu and Sashi Panja.

Bratya Basu and Shashi Panja File

The conversation in the video shared by the Trinamul went as follows.

“Ekta prachaar hochchhe bibhinno jayga te prashasan theke naki apnader arthik taka niye ese diye… (A campaign is on in various sections that the administration had offered money).” the person who shot the video, said.

“Ke bollo ei katha ta (Who is saying this)?”, asked the victim's father.

“Ki bhabe bollo eta (How could anyone say such a thing?)”

Father: “Amader to erokom katha bolar kono darkaar-i nei. Erokom kono ghatana-i ghoteni. (Who said this? There was no need for us to say any such thing. No such thing has happened).”

Mother: “Amraa kauke kichhu bolini (We didn’t say any such thing to anyone).”

“Chhi Chhi Chhi (Shame). Tahole eta sampurna ekdom mithye (Then this is entirely false?)”, asked the videographer.

Father: “Mithye galpo baniye (A false narrative is… inaudible… amraa bichar chaichhi. Jaate amraa nyay pai sei byabostha koruk (We are asking for justice. They should see to it that we get justice).”

It has emerged that the video was shot on the night of August 11, two days after the brutal rape and murder of the doctor, which has created a social uproar that Bengal has not seen in several decades. According to sources, the video of the parents’ denial came from the Kolkata Police. These events happened when the Calcutta Police’s special investigation team was probing the gruesome rape and murder.

“Whatever we said in the video (shared by the Trinamul Congress) we were forced to say,” the victim’s father told ABP Ananda later this evening. “We were told if we upset the police then getting justice for our daughter would be difficult.

According to ABP Ananda, the victim’s aunt said on Thursday, a videographer had reached their residence in the northern suburbs that same night (August 11) and they were forced to deny that the Calcutta Police had offered money to the family.

On Thursday evening, the parents again claimed that the cops had come to their house with currency notes bundled in a packet.

“I told the officer you have stars on your shoulder. You must have worked hard to earn them. My daughter worked even harder to reach where she wanted to,” the victim’s father told the news channel.

The parents said that a representative of the Joint Platform of Doctors’ Subarna Goswami had made the allegation public after meeting the family on August 11.

“The victim’s mother informed us that a senior officer had offered money to the family even before the cremation took place. We were surprised to hear this. If there is no cover-up involved, why would the cops offer money to the family?” Goswami had said after meeting the family members on that day.

Soon after sharing the video of the parents' denial minister Panja had said: “We feel deep anguish, extremely concerned, disturbed and are with the grieving parents. They have lost their only child in this manner. Let us not question what they have said in the past or are saying now. Let us not do a post mortem their statements. The CBI should probe everything and find out at the earliest who the perpetrators were.”

The family had also claimed that on the fateful night when they went to the Tala police station between 300-400 cops had surrounded the entire premises. At their residence in the northern suburbs too an equal number of police was recorded.

They have claimed they wanted to preserve the body for a second post mortem but the cops pressured them to cremate in a hurry.

“When we went to crematorium, we were told all expenses for the cremation process were made free. Who took that decision? Why were we not allowed to do the barest minimum that we could have for our murdered daughter, perform her last rites?” asked the father.