The Saturday night arrests of Tala officer-in-charge Abhijit Mondal and former RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh in connection with the August 9 rape and murder intensified the ongoing discomfort in the Trinamool Congress dispensation.

A senior Trinamool leader in Calcutta admitted that the arrests seemed to justify the claim from many quarters that the police and health department were involved in tampering with evidence.

Many Trinamool leaders believe the development would help the protesters and Opposition parties bolster the campaign that the government machinery was involved in tampering with the evidence to attempt a cover-up after the grisly rape-and-murder of the 31-year-old junior doctor at her workplace in the small hours of August 9.

The CBI, probing the RG Kar brutality, arrested Mondal for allegedly tampering with evidence and misleading investigators following the August 9 incident. The central agency arrested Ghosh, already in jail in connection with a corruption case, for his alleged involvement on the same charge.

"The development is certainly a blow for the party, as it justifies the claim that the police and health department were involved in tampering with evidence related to the rape and murder of the postgraduate trainee doctor" said a senior Trinamool leader in Calcutta.

"The chief minister (Mamata Banerjee) is also the health and home minister of the state. So, the arrests of the duo will certainly raise questions over the role of these two departments in the case. Both are headed by our party supremo," he added.

RG Kar is a state-run hospital and the police are under the state home department.

According to another Trinamool leader, the timing of the arrests occurred at a critical moment when the Bengal government was in the process of pacifying the protesting doctors — who have been on the streets for over a month, causing embarrassment for the Bengal government and partially paralysing the public healthcare system.

"Although the meeting between Mamata Banerjee and protesting doctors on Saturday could not take place, we were hopeful that it would resolve soon. After these arrests, the mood of the protesting doctors completely changed, which was evident in their statements and fresh protests on Sunday," said the leader.

On Saturday, after a tug-of-war between the state government and the protesting doctors, the meeting with Mamata at her Kalighat residence could not take place.

The doctors claimed that despite their agreeing to the government’s conditions, the meeting was cancelled by the chief minister.

However, Trinamool said that despite Mamata personally requesting the junior doctors for the meeting, they unnecessarily made her wait for three hours.

The CBI made the arrests while the junior doctors were at her Kalighat residence.

As news of the arrests emerged, some protesters claimed that the reason for delay became clear, despite them finally being ready to comply with all conditions set by the government.

A Trinamool MP said that the arrests had changed the entire narrative of the RG Kar episode, giving the protesting doctors and Opposition parties more momentum for their ongoing movement.

“We were expecting the cooling down period to begin, but the arrests of the duo reignited the protests. The BJP, which had been demanding Mamata’s resignation, will certainly gain extra energy to corner us,” the TMC MP said.

“Now it will become tough to negotiate with protesting doctors,” he added.

As the protesting doctors demanded the resignation of Calcutta police commissioner Vineet Goyal, they started claiming that their accusations of police failure and role in suppressing evidence were confirmed following the arrest of the Tala OC.

The Supreme Court is set to hear the RG Kar case on Tuesday. Trinamool is closely watching its outcome.

The TMC’s stance is that justice should be served in the RG Kar brutality case. The government cannot support the arrested cop.

“We have always demanded punishment for those involved in the brutality. We also demand punishment for those arrested on charges of tampering with evidence if the charges are proven,” said TMC leader Kunal Ghosh.

A social media post by Trinamool’s former MP, Santanu Sen, also embarrased the party.

“Was the first person to point out this corrupt&criminal minded #SandipGhosh. Realised if he can’t be stopped immediately @AITCofficial Govt& @MamataOfficial will face problem in future. Silently gave all documents to appropriate persons for CM. I doubt whether she was at all given,” Sen wrote on X within an hour of the arrests.