NEW DELHI, May 21: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday ordered a fresh probe into the rape and murder of trainee doctor in the government-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata in 2024 to investigate the allegations of evidence destruction and downplaying the incident when the Trinamool Congress government headed by the chief minister Mamata Banerjee was in power in the state.
The court ordered the formation of a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to reinvestigate the evidence tampering claims. Shockwaves rippled through the nation after the young trainee doctor was raped and murdered inside the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on the night of August 9, 2024,
The high court division bench comprising Justices Shampa Sarkar and Tirthankar Ghosh said CBI Joint Director (Eastern Zone) would lead the team. The other two members of the team, it said, should be decided within 48 hours.
The bench has directed the CBI to examine the events from the time the doctor had dinner on the night of the incident to her cremation. It said considering the social ramifications of the incident, the SIT would examine the allegations by the victim’s parents that evidence was destroyed and there had been attempts to hush up and downplay the matter.
The CBI has been granted full freedom to question anyone they deem necessary during the investigation. The high court asked the SIT to submit its investigation report by June 25, when the matter would be heard again. The parents of the RG Kar victim had earlier moved the court seeking another probe into the rape and murder of their daughter, claiming that more than one person was involved in the incident.
The CBI, which had earlier investigated the matter taking over the probe from the Kolkata police at the behest of the High Court, had arrested civic volunteer Sanjay Roy, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime. The victim’s mother has also since been elected to the State Assembly on the BJP ticket.
(Manas Dasgupta)
