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The parents of the post-graduate trainee doctor who was allegedly raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9 will file an application before the Supreme Court ahead of Saturday’s hearing in which the trial court is likely to announce its verdict in the case.
The rape and murder of the young trainee doctor had sparked protests by doctors across India in general and Bengal and Kolkata in particular.
The parents had earlier filed a fresh petition before Calcutta high court expressing their unhappiness with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe and sought a reinvestigation.
The family’s counsel, Gargi Goswami, told The Telegraph Online that since a case is going on in the apex court, the high court had directed them to seek a clarification from the division bench of the Supreme Court before the next hearing in Calcutta on Wednesday.
“As directed by the Calcutta high court, we are filing an application before the Supreme Court,” said Goswami.
The Calcutta high court had transferred the probe into the alleged rape and murder of the 31-year-old second-year post-graduate trainee doctor from the Kolkata Police to the CBI.
The doctor’s body was found in the seminar hall of the chest department in the emergency building of the hospital on August 9.
The Kolkata Police’s special investigation team which had initially investigated the case had made one arrest, a civic volunteer named Sanjay Roy.
In the five months since the central agency has been investigating the case, there have been no further arrests except that the CBI also arrested Sandip Ghosh, who was the RG Kar Medical College principal,and Abhijeet Mondal, officer-in-charge of Tala police station, for an alleged conspiracy behind the murder.
The CBI failed to produce the charge sheet against Ghosh and Mondal so they were given bail. Ghosh remains in prison because the CBI, which was also given the job to probe alleged corruption at the state-run hospital, has also arrested him in the corruption case.
“From the purport of the entire examination and investigation, it would be evident that the entire trial is being conducted in a manner to implicate and target only one person who is accused, Sanjay Roy, in exclusion of the other suspects,” reads the petition filed by the parents before the Calcutta high court.
Goswami alleged several witnesses were left out during the trial that is ongoing at the lower court.
“Out of the total 148 witnesses, only 51 were examined during the trial. Among those present in the hospital with the victim on the night of the incident, statements of four of them were recorded but only two of them were examined,” said Goswami. “To access the seminar room where the body was found, one has to go past the nursing station. None of the nurses, paramedics and guards was examined though they should have been.”
The petition states: “From the list of witnesses it would be evident there are total 51 witnesses but unfortunately the relevant witnesses who were present with the daughter of the petitioners at the night of the incident have not been arrayed in the list of witnesses and not being questioned till date.”
The Telegraph Online had earlier reported that the CBI had not been able to identify any other person seen on the CCTV camera before and after the incident.
The only exception is the prime accused in the case, Sanjay Roy, whose Bluetooth earphone was allegedly found on the floor of the seminar room.
The parents’ petition has also raised questions on the alleged tampering of evidence that was denied by then Kolkata Police chief Vineet Goyal.
“The presence of numerous individuals in the seminar hall, while barring your petitioners, raises suspicion of potential tampering or mishandling of evidence,” the petition says. “This delay compromises the sanctity of the crime scene and undermines the integrity of any ensuing investigation. The refusal to allow the petitioners to see their child raises the critical question of motive.”
The petition adds: “The delay was intended to shield certain individuals, manipulate evidence or obscure the truth behind the tragic demise of their daughter.”
Goswami alleged that even the samples and swabs collected from the accused raised suspicion.
“The samples were collected on August 9. While the blood samples were sent to the central forensic science laboratory on August 13, the vaginal and anal swabs sent on August 17 were in a wet condition, even after six days. How is it possible,” asked Goswami.
The family has also raised questions over the CBI’s delay in submitting the charge sheet against Ghosh and Mondal.
“It is suspicious why the names of Abhijeet Mondal, being the SHO of Tala police station and Sandip Ghosh, being the then principal of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, have not been implicated as accused despite their names being recorded to have been involved in attempting to hush off the matter and destroying of the evidence,” reads the petition. “Why the assistant superintendent (non-medical) has not been made accused?”
The assistant superintendent had called the victim’s mother on the morning of August 9 and told her that their daughter had taken ill. Later, in another call, the official had told the family that their daughter had died by suicide.
The victim had called her mother around 11pm on August 8; that was the last that the family had heard from her.
The victim’s father iterated the family’s stand that the alleged rape and murder of their daughter could not be committed by one person.
“From that day when we were summoned to the hospital hurriedly and then made to wait for three-and-half hours, we have suspected there is more than what meets the eye,” the father told The Telegraph Online.
“We wanted a second post-mortem but the Kolkata Police did not allow it to happen. Instead the cremation was carried out in a rush,” he added.
The cremation was carried out at 8.30pm, the same evening when the mutilated corpse was discovered, even before the FIR was filed at the Tala police station.
In their petition filed before the Calcutta High Court, the family members have alleged: “It is widely known within the medical community that the said principal has close ties with leaders of the ruling political party. This proximity has allowed him to exert considerable influence even to the extent of hijacking their daughter’s body with the assistance of the police.
“The intent behind this was to expedite the cremation process, thereby removing and/or destroying any further evidence that may have been missed during the autopsy. This conduct has only served to deepen the petitioners’ suspicion that there is a deliberate attempt to cover up the true circumstances of their daughter’s death,” it adds.
The family members alleged the CBI in these five months has done little to expose the “cover-up”.
“We don’t know nor can we say what the judgment will be,” the father said. “We expect capital punishment. The judge will decide on the verdict. What can we say?”
