The Kolkata Police filed seven cases against three Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including two MLAs, and others for allegedly obstructing officers from performing their duties, assaulting them and causing damage to public property during a march on Saturday, reported PTI.

The march to the state secretariat was organised to mark a year since the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at the city’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, and demand justice for her. It was called by the doctor’s parents, who were joined by several BJP leaders and supporters.

The police and protesters faced off at several points in Kolkata and the adjacent Howrah during the march despite elaborate security arrangements, which included iron barricades as high as 10 feet, The Indian Express reported.

The doctor’s mother was also hospitalised with a head injury that she sustained when the police allegedly lathi-charged the protesters.

Five policemen were also injured and were undergoing treatment, according to PTI.

Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma said CCTV footage, video clips and footage from drone surveillance were being scanned. He added that those who obstructed police operations, assaulted officers and damaged public property were being identified.

Verma also said that the injury to the doctor’s mother was regrettable and should not have happened. “On the allegations that the injury was sustained in police action, we are investigating the matter,” PTI quoted the police commissioner said.

“Even if we do not receive a complaint, we [Kolkata Police] will investigate on our own initiative,” Verma said. “The investigation has already started.”

An unidentified police officer told PTI that BJP legislators Ashok Dinda and Agnimtra Paul, along with party leader Kaustav Bagchi and others, were booked under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for obstructing operations, assaulting officers and causing damage to public property during the march.

He added that the cases also included non-bailable sections.

The 31-year-old trainee doctor was found dead on the state-run hospital’s premises on August 9, 2024. The incident sparked protests across the country.

For several weeks, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front led protests demanding the resignation of senior officials and an end to the “threat culture” in West Bengal’s medical centres.

Sanjay Roy, a former civic police volunteer, was arrested by the Kolkata Police on August 10, the day after the body of the doctor was discovered in the hospital's seminar room.

Three days later, the Calcutta High Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the matter.

The High Court had held a daily trial after a chargesheet was filed in the matter on October 7. Roy told the court that he was not involved in the incident and claimed that he was innocent.

In January, the Sealdah Civil and Criminal Court in Kolkata handed a life sentence to Roy after it held him guilty of the crime.

After protests erupted in August seeking justice for the trainee doctor, the Kolkata Police imposed prohibitory orders barring the assembly of a crowd outside the medical institute for several days. On August 15, a mob of 5,000 to 7,000 persons broke into and vandalised the hospital premises. The protestors, including doctors, were attacked by the mob.

Healthcare services across West Bengal were impacted for several weeks as protesting doctors at state-run hospitals held a strike against the incident.

The Central Bureau of Investigation is separately looking into alleged tampering of evidence in the case and alleged corruption at the medical facility. The persons accused in the case include the hospital’s former principal Sandip Ghosh and an ex-officer-in-charge of the Tala police station, among others.