The CBI will wait for the verdict in the RG Kar rape-and-murder case before deciding to file a supplementary chargesheet.
But it will continue with its investigation in the case, sources in the central investigating agency said.
“We will wait the next few days for the verdict in the rape-and-murder case to come,” a senior officer said on Saturday.
“The probe is not yet over and we are preparing to present our case against Sandip Ghosh and Abhijit Mandal, the two other accused in this case,” the officer said.
Senior CBI officers said they were collating physical and material evidence against Ghosh and Mandal, who were granted bail after the CBI failed to submit chargesheets against them within 90 days of their arrests.
Besides Sanjay Roy, the prime accused, the CBI had arrested Ghosh, during whose tenure as RG Kar Medical College and Hospital principal the young doctor was raped and killed on August 9, and Mandal, the then officer-in-charge of Tala police station, in connection with the rape and murder.
While Mandal is out on bail, Ghosh is in jail custody for his alleged involvement in financial irregularities at RG Kar. The CBI has submitted a chargesheet in the case holding Ghosh among those primarily responsible for alleged financial irregularities.
The verdict on the rape-and-murder of the 31-year-old junior doctor at RG Kar is scheduled to be delivered on January 18.
The additional district and sessions judge of the Sealdah court, who has been hearing the case in-camera since November 11 last year, is scheduled to deliver the verdict at 2.30pm, lawyers present during the conclusion of the hearing said.
Investigators in the central agency said in December that it had told the court it was not filing a supplementary chargesheet against Ghosh and Mandal “for the time being”. That was not to suggest it won’t ever, they said.
“A lot of work goes into drawing up a chargesheet. The one on the rape-and-murder at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital had enough material and circumstantial evidence, forensic reports, opinions of experts, the statements of over 100 witnesses and DNA reports,” the officer said.
“We want to similarly gather enough evidence, explore all possibilities during our subsequent investigation and present our case before the court,” the officer said.
A section of officers of Kolkata Police’s Special Investigation Team — which arrested Roy within a day of the rape-and-murder on August 9 — said the CBI would have to inform the court about the accused on bail and the fate of the case, including whether or not the agency wants to continue with the probe.
“The investigating officer of the case will have to submit a final report before the court under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) defining the status and mentioning whether the probe has been concluded or if there is scope for further investigation,” a senior Kolkata Police officer said.
Section 193 of the BNSS states that a police officer has to report on the completion of an investigation and lays down details of what the report must contain.
While Ghosh and Mandal were granted bail in December, the CBI had earlier made submissions about the alleged involvement of the two in the “destruction of evidence” and how they had exchanged phone calls on the day the junior doctor’s body was found.
The central agency had objected to their bail pleas, claiming it had evidence against the duo.
The victim’s parents, who have moved court seeking a fresh investigation, have questioned the CBI probe so far.
“No one is satisfied with the CBI probe and we believe there is scope for more,” the junior doctor’s father told The Telegraph.
“I believe the agency will submit a supplementary chargesheet in the case. We will wait and watch how things play out,” he said.