Manas Dasgupta
EW DELHI, Sept 15: The late evening arrests by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of the former principal of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Sandip Ghosh and the Tala police station officer-in-charge Abhijit Mondal has made the Kolkata rape and murder case more murkier.
The duo were produced before the court on Sunday and were sent to two days of CBI remand. The case will be heard next on September 17.
The CBI while seeking the remand told the court that it suspect some nexus between the two in the rape and murder of the trainee postgraduate doctor in the hospital seminar room on August 9 pointing out that Dr Sandip Ghosh spoke to Abhijit Mondal in the hours after her murder was detected and if there was some nexus needed to be uncovered.
The central agency last night arrested Mr Mondal under charges of tampering with evidence in the rape-murder case that has shaken the country. Dr Ghosh, arrested earlier in a financial irregularities case, also faces the evidence tampering charge now.
“Mondal came to the spot at 11am and an FIR was registered after 11pm,” the CBI counsel further added. “The FIR was registered at night. We have call records that show communication between the OC and Sandip Ghosh. There may be a nexus and we need to uncover the case. We want to confront both of them,” the CBI’s counsel told the court. “There is no clash between CBI and police. We want to get to the truth. For us he is not a police officer, he is a suspect,” the counsel added.
Both the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court have questioned the delay in the registration of the FIR, which was filed over 14 hours after the doctor’s body was found. The courts have asked why the hospital administration then led by Dr Ghosh did not register a police complaint that would have ensured the filing of an FIR.
“He was under an obligation to register to FIR. They tried to downplay it as suicide. There was a lapse on his part. It was a case of sexual assault and he should have handled it cautiously. He was in a conspiracy with other people,” the CBI told the court today. The lawyer for Mr Mondal replied, “They allege there was a delay. They don’t say whether I am an accused or a witness. There is no ground for arrest here. This is at best a case of alleged dereliction of duty. For that, a departmental inquiry could have been done.”
The CBI told the court that Mr Mondal was not an accused in the rape and murder, but may have played a role in a larger conspiracy of an alleged cover-up. These were the CBI’s first two arrests in the rape and murder case over their month-long investigation. Earlier, Kolkata Police had arrested civic volunteer Sanjoy Roy in the case. The CBI took Roy’s custody after the high court transferred the probe to the central agency.
The arrests were made by the CBI soon after the junior doctors rejecting the chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s offer for a meeting at her residence to resolve the impasse, returned to their protest site in front of the “Swastha Bhavan,” the headquarter of the state health department, on Saturday night.
The Chief Minister invited the doctors for talks last evening. The doctors reached her residence, but the talks could not be held due to differences over whether the meeting would be live-streamed.
Amid high drama outside the Chief Minister’s home, with Ms Banerjee seen waiting at the door and the doctors under umbrellas outside, the CBI has slapped the charge of evidence tampering on Dr Sandip Ghosh and Abhijit Mondal.
The BJP has now alleged that Ms Banerjee called off the meeting with the doctors because she was “demoralised” due to the arrest of Dr Ghosh and the police officer for evidence tampering.
Following the Chief Minister’s appeal in the afternoon, the protesters reached her residence at Kalighat around 6.45 pm. The doctors had been demanding live-streaming of the meeting, but the state government did not agree. Top officials said live-streaming talks at the Chief Minister’s home is not possible. The doctors then said they be allowed to videograph the meeting. The state government refused this too and said it would record the meeting and recording would be provided to doctors later because the matter was sub-judice.
This created another deadlock, as the doctors insisted that they be provided the recording after the meeting. At one point, Ms Banerjee came out and invited the doctors inside. “You can trust me, I won’t mislead you. Even if you do not attend the meeting, at least have a cup of tea.” She also said the doctors are “insulting” her. The doctors stressed that they wanted the recording. She then said I “cannot accept all your demands.” Eventually, around 9 pm, the doctors decided to join the meeting but state minister Chandrima Bhattacharya and chief secretary Dr Manoj Pant told them that it was too late.
At the protest site, news of the arrests of Ghosh and Mondal set off celebrations. “We are very happy as the CBI has arrested them. The CBI should arrest others who have tampered with the evidence,” a doctor spokesman said.
The Trinamool Congress said the Chief Minister waited for the protesting doctors for three hours and even stepped out of her home to invite them. “Has anyone seen any Chief Minister like this? When everyone left, then they wanted to talk. Let’s see what happens,” she told local media last night.
The CBI sources said its probe revealed inconsistencies in the timeline provided by the police, raising suspicions of a cover-up. The agitating doctors’ spokesman said the arrest of Ghosh validated their demands, saying, “What Sandip Ghosh has done is an institutional crime. We want all such people involved in it to resign.” He said.
