CBI additional director Sampat Meena is leading the 24-member CBI team probing the alleged rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar, sources said.

An agency official said Meena, a Jharkhand-cadre IPS officer, had earlier headed the probes into the rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl in Hathras in 2020 and the rape of a 17-year-old Dalit girl in Unnao in 2017. Both the atrocities had taken place in Uttar Pradesh.

The Hathras outrage was a tragedy redoubled because the victim’s body was whisked away from AIIMS, Delhi, by the Uttar Pradesh police and cremated under police watch before any further investigations could be carried out.

Local village strongmen from the forward castes had openly dared the administration and the law to act against the alleged offenders.