Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 4: Eighty seven days after the heinous rape and murder of a junior doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9, which had rudely shaken the conscience of the people across the country, a city court on Monday framed charges against the lone accused Sanjay Roy even as he kept claiming that he was “innocent” and was being “framed” by the state government.
His reiteration of innocence came as the Sealdah Court in Kolkata framed charges against him under Section 66 (which pertains to punishment for causing death or resulting in a persistent vegetative state), 103 (punishment for murder) and 64 (rape) of the Bhartiya Nyay Sahita (BNS). The court further said the day-to-day trial in the case would commence from November 11. He was charged in the case that had sparked a massive protest by the West Bengal’s junior doctors that had ripple effect in many states.
Sanjay Roy. Who was arrested by the Kolkata police the very next day of the incident and was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) when the central agency took charge of the investigation of the case at the order of the Calcutta High Court, was the only man who has been accused in the rape-murder of August 9.
A civic volunteer who worked with the Kolkata police, he had the free run of the hospital and was caught on CCTV cameras entering the hospital before the rape-murder of the 31-year-old doctor took place. Investigators released a CCTV screen grab of Sanjay Roy entering the hospital an hour after midnight. The footage showed a Bluetooth earphone coiled around his neck, which the police said was found in the crime scene.
Sanjay Roy, who is in the custody of the CBI has claimed that he is being threatened. He told this to the media while leaving the court premises. “I have done nothing. I have been framed in this rape-murder case. Nobody is listening to me. The government is framing me and threatening me not to open my mouth,” Roy told reporters as he was led out of the Sealdah court.
Though many had suspected gangrape in the case, the central agency had contradicted it after recording over 100 statements and conducting 10 polygraph tests, including two of the hospital’s former chief Sandip Ghosh and maintained that Roy was the lone accused in the case. Roy had undergone a polygraph test earlier insisting it would help establish his innocence.
In its initial charge-sheet submitted last month, the CBI had identified Roy as the “sole prime accused” in the case. The CBI’s charge-sheet also acknowledged the possibility of a “bigger conspiracy” behind the crime.
On August 9, the body of the 31-year-old junior doctor was found in the seminar hall of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The autopsy report confirmed that the doctor was brutally raped and murdered, sparking a wave of outrage across the nation.
Doctors across West Bengal went on a ‘cease-work’ strike for weeks demanding justice for the victim, and urging the state government to impose stricter security measures in hospitals and medical facilities for the safety of health workers.
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The parents of the victim had also blamed the West Bengal government and chief minister Mamata Banerjee for delay in justice after the crime, alleging a bigger conspiracy and cover-up at play.
Senior West Bengal Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury said Roy’s claims should be taken seriously and probed. “Such claims of an accused should not be ignored and call for an investigation. We have been saying that such a crime is not possible by a single person. It’s a collective crime. We do not know whether the CBI and the Kolkata Police are in an understanding. We are sceptical,” he said. The role of the police is also required to be probed, said Chowdhury, a former state Congress president.
During the hearing in the corruption case in the same hospital, the central agency told a special CBI court in Alipur in Kolkata that there was a “deep conspiracy” behind the crime. The Calcutta High Court on August 23 ordered transfer of the probe into alleged financial irregularities at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital during the tenure of its former principal Sandip Ghosh from a state-constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) to the CBI. Ghosh was arrested in the case.
Meanwhile, civil society organisations staged a rally from Karunamoyee Crossing to the CBI’s office in CGO Complex in Salt Lake demanding that the agency quicken its probe into the RG Kar rape-murder case. “It’s almost three months since the incident happened. What is the CBI doing? There is no clarity in its investigation. We want the CBI to complete its investigation as soon as possible,” said Lipika Chakraborty, a school teacher, who participated in the march.
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said, “The CBI is investigating the case though the police are not cooperating with it. We must be patient,” he said. Senior leader of the ruling TMC, Kunal Ghosh, said the Kolkata Police arrested the accused within 24 hours after the crime was discovered. “The CBI has also mentioned him as the sole prime accused in its charge sheet. So, when an investigation is on, it is not appropriate to comment,” said Ghosh, a former Rajya Sabha MP.