Kolkata: A postmortem report of the 31-year-old post graduate trainee doctor, who was allegedly raped and murdered at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital during her night duty on 9 August, has revealed significant vaginal bleeding and injury marks, bite marks on the neck, injured lips, and significant trauma on the head. The report also showed the presence of 150 mg semen in the hymen, which her parents claim indicates the involvement of more than one individual or gangrape in their petition before the Calcutta High Court.
ThePrint has accessed the petition filed before the Chief Justice bench.
Initially, the case was reported as a suicide at Kolkata’s leading government medical facility by then RG Kar principal, Dr Sandip Ghosh, last week. The incident has since left the state’s healthcare system in disarray.
The parents told the Calcutta HC that they last spoke to their daughter at 11.30 pm on 9 August, during which she showed no signs of discomfort or distress. However, at 10.53 am. The next morning, they were informed by the assistant superintendent of RG Kar that their daughter was ill. Just 22 minutes later, at 11.15 am, they received another call from the same official, this time informing them that their daughter had committed suicide. The parents also alleged that they were made to wait for three hours before they were allowed to see their daughter’s body.
The state, however, informed the HC that the police outpost at the hospital received information at 10.10 am. Tala police station was alerted at 10.30 am, and the homicide team arrived at the scene by 11.00 am. A senior police official, holding the rank of additional commissioner of police, reached the location half an hour later. The state also stated that the parents arrived at 1.00 pm and were given access to see their daughter’s body 10 minutes later.
Citing no progress in the investigation, today, the Calcutta HC transferred the investigation of the incident to the CBI and instructed the Kolkata Police to hand over all the evidence, CCTV footage and case documents to the central probe agency.
The CBI was handed over the case diary inside the courtroom itself and it filed an FIR late Tuesday night. The central agency’s Special Crime Unit team has reached Kolkata from New Delhi. This specialised unit of the CBI investigates serious, sensational and organised crime.
Why did HC transfer the case to CBI?
Kolkata Police, which held a press conference last Saturday, informed the media that one person had been arrested for the rape and murder of the doctor but refused to go on record about whether he was a Kolkata Police civic volunteer despite repeated queries from the media.
Since then, the Kolkata Police has examined over 25 persons, examined days of CCTV footage but not found the involvement of any other person so far. Amid the ongoing investigation being conducted by an SIT comprising police personnel, forensic experts, DCPs and headed by Additional CP (I) of Kolkata Police, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after meeting the aggrieved family at their home Monday, announced that if the police are unable to complete the investigation within seven days, the case will be transferred to the CBI. This has never happened before under the TMC regime since 2011. In fact, the state had withdrawn general consent to the CBI in 2018.
The Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court while ordering a CBI probe into the incident that has sparked nation-wide protests said, “Public confidence would not connote the public in general alone but since the incident took place in the hospital, which is a government hospital, the patients, who are the public concerned should also feel safe and confident that appropriate action is being taken and the investigation proceeds in an appropriate manner and the culprits are brought to books.”
The HC will monitor the investigation and has directed the CBI to file periodical reports on the progress of the investigation. “We would be well-justified in making an observation that the administration was not with the victim or the family of the victim. We had asked the learned Senior Standing Counsel as to whether the statement had been recorded from the Principal, the Superintendent and the Assistant Superintendent. The reply at the time of hearing was that no statement has been recorded.”
It added that under “normal circumstances”, it may have directed a report to be filed. “However, the case on hand is a peculiar case and the facts and circumstances warrant appropriate orders without further loss of time. We are convinced to say so because even after a lapse of five days there appears to be no significant progress in the investigation, which ought to have happened by now and by further loss of time, we would be well-justified in accepting the plea raised by the writ petitioners, more particularly, the parents of the victim that there is every possibility that evidence will be destroyed and the witnesses will be influenced,” the court said in its 17-page order accessed by ThePrint.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhari)
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Dr. Saumyadeep Sinha Mahapatra and Dr. Golam Azam, interns at RG Kar hospital, are believed to be the main suspects in this case.
Dr. Mahapatra’s father is believed to be a TMC leader and therefore allegations have been levelled against Kolkata Police of deliberately botching up the probe into the rape/murder.
To make things worse, the Principal of RG Kar college, Dr. Sandeep Ghosh, also has very close ties to Ms. Mamata Banerjee. Hence, his promotion to the position of Principal of CNMC – a much more renowned medical institution in Kolkata.