Calcutta High Court on Tuesday handed over to the CBI the investigation into the rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital amid allegations from protesters that the college had been callous if not complicit and the police probe shoddy.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam sent Sandip Ghosh, the RG Kar principal who had stepped down on Monday and was subsequently transferred as principal to the Calcutta National Medical College, on “leave until further directions”.

It said Ghosh was “not permitted to hold the post of principal of the National Medical College and Hospital, Calcutta, until further directions”.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had on Monday given the police six days to crack the case failing which, she said, the probe would be handed over to the CBI.

“Even after a lapse of five days there appears to be no significant progress in the investigation,” the bench said.

On Tuesday, the high court noted how the protests had spread from RG Kar to other parts of the state and the country, and said the investigation was being transferred to the central agency to “instil confidence in the public mind”.

“As pointed out by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, one of the circumstances which the court should take note of while transferring an investigation from the state investigating agency to any other independent agency is to do justice between the parties and to instil confidence in the public mind,” the bench, which included Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, said in its written order.

“At this juncture, we take judicial notice of the fact that the agitation... has spread over to other institutions in the state... to other states in the country, which have been widely reported in the newspapers. These are all relevant factors, which have to be borne in mind.... Therefore, we deem it appropriate to transfer the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation.”

The bench gave the central agency three weeks to file a preliminary report.

The court was hearing a batch of petitions it had clubbed together. The PILs sought a court-monitored CBI probe into the rape and murder. The petitioners included the victim’s parents, BJP leaders — including Bengal leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari — and lawyers.

“The parents of the victim apprehend that if the state police are permitted to continue the investigation, in all probabilities, the investigation will be derailed,” the bench said.

Noting that Mamata had “not objected” to a CBI probe, the bench said that any further delay in transferring the investigation could lead to “destruction of evidence” and “influencing of witnesses”.

It directed the police to hand over the case diary to the CBI officer present in court. “The other records, CCTV footage, statements, if any, and all material and matters concerning the case shall be handed over to the CBI by 10am tomorrow,” the bench said.

In the evening, CBI officers visited Tala police station and collected several documents related to the case.

During a long hearing, the bench raised multiple questions about the investigation conducted by Kolkata Police, who have so far arrested one suspect in the case. There is a swirl of allegations that more than one person was involved in the assault and murder of the postgraduate trainee.

Coming down heavily on Ghosh, the bench questioned the “tearing urgency” with which he was appointed principal of another medical college after resigning as RG Kar principal.

It asked why Ghosh had, as the head of RG Kar, not filed a complaint after the doctor’s body was discovered, calling it a “clear dereliction of duty on the part of the principal”.

The bench also pulled up the police for failing to record Ghosh’s statement, before directing him to “immediately proceed on leave, failing which the court will be compelled to pass necessary orders”.

Senior lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, counsel for the victim’s parents, sought police protection for his clients. The bench asked him to approach the police.

Junior doctors continued their protests despite the court order and an appeal from the government to resume work. Patient complaints about the lack of services continued to pour in.

Actress and filmmaker Aparna Sen visited the protest epicentre, RG Kar, and said she was “100 per cent” with the striking junior doctors.

The protests are likely to spread to private hospitals on Wednesday following a call by a doctors’ forum.

HC appeal

The division bench said it was “truly appreciative of the feelings vented out by the doctors and the medical students” who have launched a state-wide agitation that has crippled government hospitals.

But it underlined the “pious obligation on the part of the doctors to treat their patients, more particularly the patients who come to the government hospital, who are not from the affluent strata of society”.

The bench appealed to the protesting doctors to talk with government officials and “consider calling off their agitation”.