Chief medical officer of health of East Burdwan, Pranab Roy, handed over the appointment letter to Renu Khatun, the 23-year-old nurse whose right palm was chopped off allegedly by her husband on Sunday in a bid to prevent her from joining the government job, at the private hospital in Durgapur on Friday.

West Burdwan district magistrate S. Arun Prasad and sub-divisional officer of Durgapur Sekhar Kumar Chowdhury were also present when the CMOH handed over the appointment letter to Renu.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced from Nabanna that Renu’s appointment letter was ready and she read it out from the mobile phone of chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi.

“Usually, the appointment letter is sent to the address of the candidate concerned by post. On humanitarian grounds, the chief minister instructed health officials to hand over the job letter to Renu at her hospital bed. So, the officials went physically to hand it over to her,” said a senior state government official.

Asked when Renu would join office, Roy said: “Once she is fit and feels comfortable to do so.”

“She will join the office of CMOH. Later, we will decide about her mode of work. She has been appointed as a staff nurse of East Burdwan district,” said Roy.

Overwhelmed at receiving the appointment letter, Renu said: “It (getting the appointment letter) was possible only for our honourable chief minister whom I considered as my mother.”

Renu’s family members said they were relieved to learn about the 23-year-old nurse receiving her appointment letter on Friday.

“My sister was worried whether she could get the job. We are relieved today. We express our gratitude to our honourable chief minister,” said Ripon Sheikh, elder brother of Renu.

One more arrest

East Burdwan district police on Friday arrested Chand Mohammed Sheikh, who is a cousin of Renu’s husband Sariful Sheikh, for his involvement in the conspiracy behind the attack on the young nurse. The accused was produced before the Katwa court and sent to police custody for six days.

Police sources said, Chand had sent two youths Habib Sheikh and Asraf Sheikh to assist Sariful to cut off the palm of the young nurse. He knew about the plan of attack and was part of the conspiracy. Chand is an undergraduate student of a college in Nadia’s Kalyani.

“We have arrested one more in connection with the brutal attack on the young nurse. All six persons have been arrested in the case,” said Kamanasish Sen, the East Burdwan superintendent of police.