The CBI has mentioned in its status report to the Supreme Court that there was a conspiracy between the authorities of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and “unknown persons” to intentionally state wrong facts in the rape and murder of the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee of the chest medicine department of the medical college, sources in the central agency said.

A division bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud is scheduled to hear the RG Kar rape and murder case on Tuesday after going through the status report submitted by the central agency.

The status report has underlined that a series of operational flaws by the Kolkata Police ensured the inquest and post-mortem of the junior doctor was delayed on August 9 and the cremation was hurried despite the parents demanding a second autopsy, CBI sources said.

“The report suggested a greater conspiracy behind the series of lapses, which
appear to be intentional, including tampering with the crime scene at the seminar hall of the chest medicine department,” said a senior officer of CBI.

“We need time to identify others involved in the commission of the crime and take the case to a logical conclusion,” the officer said.

On Sunday, a Sealdah court remanded Abhijit Mondal, the then officer-in-charge of Tala police station and Sandip Ghosh, former RG Kar Medical College and Hospital principal, to the CBI’s custody till Tuesday.

Mondal was arrested late on Saturday for allegedly misleading the investigators, remaining evasive with replies and not revealing the truth during the CBI investigation, sources said.

Ghosh was also “shown arrest” on the same day in the RG Kar junior doctor’s rape and murder case.

Senior Kolkata Police officers said the cremation was conducted under complete police “cover” to rule out any subsequent possibility of protests with the body of the junior doctor.

“During the Kamduni rape in 2013, a section of villagers had reached the Hazra crossing from North 24-Parganas carrying the body of the deceased on their way to the chief minister’s residence. The police have remained very careful since then,” said a senior Kolkata Police officer.

During the last hearing at the Supreme Court on September 9, questions were raised on whether the crime scene at the seminar hall was tampered with.

The status report mentioned how vital evidence was lost because the crime scene was not adequately secured. The CBI mentioned the same in the forwarding note to the judge at the Sealdah court on Sunday, stating how Mondal failed in his duties.

“Being OC PS Tala, he failed to cordon Scene of Crime (SoC) to preserve and protect the SoC which led to access of unauthorised persons to the SoC causing damage of vital evidences available at the SoC...” the forwarding note said.

The report also mentioned how Ghosh wanted to absolve himself of the responsibilities as the principal of the medical college and hospital by tendering a resignation within three days of the crime on August 12.

During the last hearing, the apex court had pointed out how there was a delay of at least 14 hours in registering the FIR in the RG Kar case.

The status report mentioned there was an “inordinate delay of around 14 hours”in filing an FIR, CBI sources said.