Did Mamata Offer Money to Abhaya's Family? BJP Shares Purported Video of Victim's Mother

Kolkata: Soon after Mamata Banerjee dismissed claims of offering money to Abhaya's family, the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP )  released a video purportedly showing Abhaya's mother contradicting the Chief Minister's claims. 

"Within hours, the bereaved mother of the victim of RG Kar Medical College & Hospital rape and murder, calls down West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for LYING, in a publicly televised administrative meeting. The mother of Abhaya contradicts CM’s claim that no money was offered to the victim's family. She asserts that Mamata Banerjee herself offered money to the family, as did the DC (North)", BJP IT-Cell head Amit Malviya wrote on X while sharing the video of Abhaya's mother.

"Initially, it was Mamata Banerjee , who had boasted about offering money. So, why is she retracting her statement now? Was the offer of money merely a ploy to protect Sandip Ghosh or is someone more influential involved? Where will Mamata Banerjee hide now? LYING about victim's parents, instead of standing with them in solidarity! SHAME ON HER", he added.

Earlier in the day,  Mamata had dismissed the claims that the state government offered money to the parents of the victim. Referring to her meeting with the victim’s family members a couple of days after the tragedy, the Chief Minister said that some people are falsely claiming that she spoke about money with them then. "I never said anything of that sort. Please show me the proof where I spoke about money. These are all false allegations, conspiracy and untrue propaganda," she told media persons after an administrative meeting with the top police officials and bureaucrats in the state amid the continuing protests over the rape and murder issue.

According to Banerjee, before she went to meet the victim’s parents, some of the doctors' associations raised demands for compensation. "I told the victim’s parents that money can never be an alternative to death. I told them that I was equally shocked like them. Thereafter, I told them that the state government will be beside them if they want to do any good work in memory of their deceased daughter," she said.

Meanwhile, the BJP pressed for Mamata Banerjee 's resignation, saying her "dirty face" was exposed in the Supreme Court during a hearing on a case pertaining to the rape and murder of a trainee woman doctor in Kolkata. The remarks came after the apex court voiced concern over the absence of a key document that was needed for the postmortem of the trainee woman doctor raped and murdered at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, and asked the CBI to investigate it.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud also flagged at least a 14-hour delay by the Kolkata Police in registering an FIR in the incident and directed the CBI to submit a fresh report on the probe by September 17.

"The Supreme Court has made scathing remarks, unveiling the dirty face of Mamata Banerjee ... The CJI asked why postmortem challan was missing from the records," BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia told a press conference at the party headquarters here.

He described Banerjee as a "liar" and alleged that evidence in the case was destroyed at her behest.