New Delhi: As investigation in the Kolkata murder-rape progresses furthur, the lie detection tests on the main accused and six others in the alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital started on Saturday, officials said.
The polygraph test on the main accused, Sanjay Roy, will be conducted in the prison, where he is lodged, while the remaining six, including former principal Sandip Ghosh and four doctors who were on duty during the night of the incident and a civil volunteer, will undergo test at the agency’s office, the officials said.
‘Crime scene altered’
A tough talking Supreme Court on Thursday tore into the Kolkata police over the delay in registering the unnatural death of the woman doctor, who was raped and killed at the RG Kar Hospital, calling it “extremely disturbing”, and questioned the sequence of events and the timing of its procedural formalities. Making an impassioned appeal to the protesting doctors across the country, the apex court also asked then to get back to work, saying “justice and medicine” cannot be stopped and moreover, it was issuing all the necessary directions to ensure their safety. It further directed no coercive action against them.
The strong reprimand of the Kolkata police by the top court in which a three-judge bench highlighted its “lapses” in its probe came even as Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, said there was an attempt to cover up the case by the local police as the crime scene was “altered” by the time the federal agency took over the probe.
The bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, which was hearing a suo motu case related to the crime, asked political parties not to politicise the case and said law will take its course after Mehta pointed to an objectionable statement of a West Bengal minister.
The top court also quizzed West Bengal government over the role of Dr Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, who has come under the scanner in the aftermath of the ghastly crime.
“Procedure is a separate issue, but the point remains. What is the reason the FIR is lodged almost 14 hours after the discovery of the body. The most important thing is that the principal of the college should have come straightaway to the college and directed the filing of the FIR. Who was he in touch with? What was the purpose? the bench asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the West Bengal government.
The moment the principal tenders the resignation, he is appointed as principal of another college, the bench noted.
At the outset, Mehta said the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) entered the probe on the fifth day after the crime.
“We entered the probe on the fifth day. Before that, whatever was collected by the local police was given to us. The investigation itself was a challenge because the scene of offence was altered. The FIR was registered only after the (victim’s) cremation at 11:45 pm.
“First, the parents of the victim were informed by the deputy superintendent (of the hospital) that she was not well. When they reached the hospital, they were told that she had committed suicide….. Fortunately, the colleagues of the deceased insisted for videography. This suggests that they were suspecting a cover-up,” Mehta submitted.
Sibal opposed Mehta’s submissions, saying everything was videographed and claimed nothing was altered at the crime scene.
He contended that the Kolkata Police followed the procedure scrupulously and the CBI’s status report only attempts to muddy the waters.
Sibal said the CBI must inform the court what progress it has made in the case in the last one week.
The rape and killing of the junior doctor in a seminar hall of the hospital has sparked widespread protests.
The medic’s body with severe injury marks was found inside the seminar hall of the hospital’s chest department in the morning of August 9. Roy was arrested the following day.
On August 13, the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the probe from the Kolkata Police to the CBI, which started its investigation on August 14.
