The CBI on Friday filed a petition before Calcutta High Court seeking capital punishment for Sanjay Roy, who has been awarded life imprisonment by the Sealdah court for the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

Lawyer Rajdeep Majumdar filed the petition before the division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md Shabbar Rashidi on behalf of the central agency, two days after the Bengal government had filed a similar petition before the same bench.

The additional district and sessions court, Sealdah, had on Monday awarded life imprisonment to Roy, following which the state challenged the verdict last Tuesday and sought the maximum punishment — death — for Roy.

CBI officers had expressed disappointment over Monday’s verdict and said in private that the agency would challenge it.

A senior CBI officer expressed the hope that the high court would consider their appeal. “We have a watertight case with clinching evidence. The rape and murder is among the rarest of rare crimes and we will again seek the death penalty for the convict,” the officer said.

The high court took cognisance of the CBI’s petition and scheduled the hearing for Monday.

After the Bengal government moved the high court on Tuesday seeking capital punishment for Roy, the CBI counsel submitted before the bench of Justice Basak and Justice Rashidi that the state had no “legal standing” to file such a petition.

The state’s petition, he had said, was not maintainable because only the CBI or the slain doctor’s family could appeal against the verdict.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had posted on her X handle hours after the Sealdah court declared the verdict that the state would move an appeal in the high court and seek capital punishment for Roy.

“I strongly feel that it is a heinous crime that warrants capital punishment. We
will plead for capital punishment of the convict at the High Court now,” Mamata had written.

After the Bengal government filed the appeal on Tuesday, the bench asked the state whether the parents of the victim were aware of the move. The court also sought the opinion of the victim’s parents on Monday.

On Friday, the bench said it would like to hear Roy’s lawyer on the matter.

The probe into the August 9 rape and murder of the young doctor was started by Kolkata Police. Three days later, the high court transferred the probe to the CBI.

The judgment of the additional district and sessions court, Sealdah, mentioned that the investigating officer from the CBI had failed to expand the scope of the
probe and the officer had merely put the findings of Kolkata Police “under magnifying glass”.

In the chargesheet filed by the central agency, Roy was named as the lone accused in the rape and murder.

In its concluding submission after the trial, the CBI sought the “highest punishment” — death — for Roy on the grounds that the August 9 rape and murder of the young doctor was among the “rarest of rare” crimes.