'Assessment failure': Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal on RG Kar Hospital vandalism

The incident happened when women in Kolkata and many other parts of the country had organised a vigil, calling it 'Women, reclaim the night' on Wednesday.

Some miscreants suddenly entered the Emergency building and resorted to violence at a time thousands of women and men took the streets across West Bengal and outside demanding justice for the RG Kar case.

The agitating doctors had to flee owing to the sudden clashes. Media personnel were attacked.

The miscreants vandalised the stage where the protest was taking place. They even overturned the police vehicles.

Some police personnel also received injuries. The police had to resort to using tear gas to disperse off the crowd.

The Kolkata Police said 15 policemen were injured and 25 people have been arrested so far.

On Friday, when Goyal was asked about the vandalism and why it couldn't be prevented, he said, "It was a leaderless crowd, anticipating and assessing how many people would gather in one place was difficult. We had to spread ourselves thin. There were many women there and we had to keep their safety in mind; some of the people who have been arrested include women."

"So we had to be restrained in our response. We could not be using force left, right and centre, just like that. There was sufficient deployment and officers were there, trying to keep the crowd in check."

Goyal, however, strongly defended the police's investigation into the rape and murder and accused "so-called experts" of creating narratives.

"Far too many rumours are floating around, which have no basis. And, based on these, so-called experts are trying to say that Kolkata Police has not done this, or it was a gang-rape by so many people. Evidence has to be scientific in nature. The case is now with the CBI, let's trust the agency investigating the case. They will also come up with evidence. Whatever we had to do in whatever little time we had was done," he said.

"Despite that, the barricade was breached and people got into the hospital and vandalised the place. We have 15 people who were injured badly," the police commissioner said.

Goyal said the CBI would find out if there was any destruction of evidence by the Kolkata Police and the force would be liable for legal action if there was anything that was done wrong.

"Why are people so impatient? Have faith in the new investigating agency. Why is this rumour-mongering going on... Our officers are cooperating with the agency. We have tried to be as transparent as possible," he stressed.

Nineteen people have been arrested by police so far in connection with the vandalism.

The High Court has termed the vandalism as "pre-planned" and asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit an interim report on it.

In reply to the court's questions, the state said a mob of about 7,000 people was there during the vandalisation.

The number suddenly increased, they broke the barricades and ransacked the hospital but the place of occurrence of the crime was protected, said the state counsel.

Slamming the state's counsel, the court said, "7,000 people can't come walking." The court questioned the administration as to how doctors will work fearlessly at the hospital.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday claimed the supporters of DYFI (the youth wing of CPI-M) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) conspired to unleash the vandalism. She cited the presence of a white-red flag and a tricolour to back her claims.

Speaking to reporters after visiting Raj Bhavan, Banerjee said, "As far as I have received information, I am not blaming students but some outsider political people- DYFI and BJP- who want to create anarchy in Bengal."

"The ones who vandalised are outsiders. They are not related to the students' protests."