Englishbazar police initiated a probe into the mysterious death of a final-year MBBS girl student from Calcutta, who had been admitted to Malda Medical College and Hospital (MMCH) on Thursday morning and died on Friday while being taken to Calcutta for advanced treatment.
Sources said the mother of the girl, who was a student at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Calcutta, lodged a written complaint with the Englishbazar police station on Saturday. Ujjwal Soren, a Purulia resident and a final-year MBBS student of the Malda medical college, has been held responsible for the death.
"My daughter and Ujjwal met about a year ago and fell in love. Recently, they went to Puri and married ritually at a temple. Thereafter, my daughter became pregnant and had to undergo an abortion," said Alpana Tudu, the mother of the deceased girl.
Anindita Soren, 23, the deceased girl, started asking Ujjwal to register the marriage immediately.
"On September 8, Ujjwal called her up and asked her to meet him in Malda. They were staying in a hotel there. I kept asking Ujjwal when my daughter would return and rejoin her classes in Calcutta. He said they had a few important works in Malda," said the mother.
"On Thursday, Ujjwal called me up again and requested me to go to Malda as my daughter had fallen 'sick.' Before I went to Malda, he had admitted my daughter to the Malda medical college. There were lapses in the treatment initially. Her condition deteriorated yesterday, and my daughter was shifted to the critical care unit. Finally, she was referred to Calcutta. On the way, she died at Sujapur under the jurisdiction of Kaliachak police station in Malda," the mother added.
Anindita is from Balurghat in South Dinajpur district. She was known to be calm.
The mother of the girl suspected that her daughter had been forced to consume some pills, which caused her death.
The family members of the deceased said that since she was repeatedly asking for the registration of the marriage, the accused might have instigated her to kill herself.
They wanted a proper investigation into the incident.
The girl's father, Joseph Soren, a manager of a rural bank, said: "We want a thorough investigation into the cause of the death. We want punishment if someone is found to be responsible for my daughter's untimely death."
Ujjwal, 24, is at large, said police sources.
"We are trying to track his location. He has to be quizzed. We will also speak to the MMCH authorities, the doctors who treated her and representatives of the hotel where the duo stayed for three days," a senior police officer said.
The MMCH authorities denied the allegation that there were lapses in the treatment. "As far as we know, she was rendered the treatment according to protocol. Still, we would look into the verbal allegations that there were lapses in the treatment," said a senior administrative official of the MMCH.