RG Kar rape-murder: A week into CBI probe, 60 hours of grilling and little else

It has been a week since the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the probe into the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, and yet, several basic questions remain unanswered.

Continuing with its poor track record in solving cases, the CBI has not made any visible headway in the case yet, prompting the protesting doctors to stage a demonstration in front of the agency’s Kolkata office at CGO Complex in Salt Lake on Wednesday (August 21).

Over 30 organisations of doctors took part in the protest demanding that the probe be expedited.

No arrests

“We are not satisfied with the progress of the investigation so far. The central agency could not make a single arrest in the past six days it has been investigating the case,” said Dr Sam Musafir, a protesting doctor. “We are in the dark about the progress of the probe.”

The Calcutta High Court transferred the investigation to the CBI on August 13. A team of officers of the investigating agency, accompanied by forensic experts, arrived in Kolkata from New Delhi the next day to begin the probe.

The team is led by the agency’s additional director Sampat Meena, a 1994-batch IPS officer from Jharkhand. She was also a part of the investigation into the 2020 Hathras rape and murder and the 2017 Unnao rape case.

Another senior member of the team, Seema Pahuja, too had the experience of handling the Hathras case. She was also involved in the investigation of the gang rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in Shimla in 2017.

Sanjay, Sandip not cooperating

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kolkata Police handed over the case diary, CCTV footage, statements of the accused, post-mortem report, and other relevant documents to the central agency upon their arrival.

The CBI immediately took into their custody prime accused Sanjay Roy, who was arrested by the SIT.

Roy is the only person arrested so far in the case.

Dr Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, was grilled by the CBI for the sixth consecutive day on Wednesday, covering over 60 hours in all. But so far, it has not found anything substantive against him that would warrant his arrest.

Roy’s new claim

Neither did Roy spill any beans before the agency that would give tailwind to the inquiry, sources told The Federal. The duo is reportedly not fully cooperating with the investigators, who are finding it difficult to crack them.

During his interrogation, he reportedly denied committing the crime. The Federal has reliably learnt that Roy claimed to the CBI that he went to the conference room of the hospital, where the body of the 31-yerar-old doctors was found, after the crime was committed.

To “extract” the truth, the CBI was supposed to conduct a polygraph test — also called a lie-detector test — on Roy on Tuesday. But the procedure had to be postponed as the CBI failed to produce him before a magistrate for the mandatory consent, citing security concerns.

“This is absurd. The accused could be taken to hospital for a medical test, but could not be produced in a court?” Dr Musafir said.

Politics continues

The TMC has been quick to accuse the CBI of deliberately slowing down the investigation. “The investigation cannot go on indefinitely to keep the issue alive so that the BJP can take political mileage out of it,” said TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.

The TMC has demanded a time-bound probe into the incident, pointing out that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had set an August 18 deadline for the SIT to complete the investigation before the case was handed over to the CBI.

The CBI is expected to submit an interim report about the progress of the case to the Supreme Court today (August 22). But till now, it is not even clear whether the arrested civic volunteer Roy was the prime accused.

The CBI has not yet reached a conclusion about how many people were involved in the brutal crime either. Multiple wounds and the nature of injuries on the body make them believe that more than one person was involved.

Body dumped in seminar room?

Furthermore, there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that the seminar room where the body was found was the actual crime scene.

The position of the body in which it was found in the room led to a suspicion that it was dumped there to avoid immediate spotting. The suspicion was further fuelled by the hospital authority’s heist in ordering the dismantling of an adjoining room for renovation.

Even the answer to the basic question of who initially informed the bereaved family that their daughter had committed suicide is mired in haze, depleting people’s faith in the CBI investigation which they thought would lead to immediate justice.

The faith is further shaken by the agency’s past record. The agency has over 910 unsolved cases in West Bengal alone. Of those, investigations have been going on for about two decades in some 110 cases.

A timeline of the RG Kar hospital rape-murder case

August 9: The 31-year-old PGT doctors is raped and murdered early in the morning and the body is found in a seminar room.

August 9: Seven-member SIT formed to investigate the case. Within six hours, civic volunteer Sanjay Roy is arrested.

August 13: Calcutta High Court transfers the probe to the CBI.

August 14: A CBI team reaches Kolkata and starts investigation. Takes Roy into its custody.

August 16: CBI starts grilling former RG Kar principal Dr Sandip Ghosh

August 19: CBI obtains permission from Sealdah court to conduct a polygraph test on Roy.

August 20: Supreme Court directs CBI to submit an interim report on Thursday

August 20: CBI fails to produce Roy before a magistrate for the test citing security reasons.

August 21: Doctors hold protest over slow progress of CBI probe