Kolkata: As soon as the clock struck 4 on Friday afternoon, the Sealdah Court was packed with media persons and lawyers jostling for space at a hearing on the closely watched RG Kar rape and murder case that’s shaken West Bengal.
Accused Sanjoy Roy was virtually presented before acting Assistant Chief Judicial Magistrate Pamela Gupta, from Presidency jail. His state-appointed counsel Kabita Sarkar moved his bail plea.
But there was pin-drop silence from the CBI side, not a word from the central agency to oppose bail, prompting a question from a visibly displeased magistrate: Where is the CBI lawyer?
“Why this lethargy, it’s very unfortunate!” Gupta said to the CBI, which was handed over the investigation into the 9 August rape-murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital last month by the Calcutta High Court.
Meanwhile, Sanjoy Roy’s lawyer Sarkar said her client is innocent and had no antecedents or cases pending in any court. Pressing for his release, the lawyer further said that the CBI had made no progress in the probe and her client has said that he didn’t commit the crime.
With no CBI lawyer to argue the case, the magistrate asked who from the agency was present in court. In the absence of the investigating officer, an assistant-rank investigator who was present was directed to enquire about the status of the lawyer. “It’s 4.30 pm, where is your lawyer? Should I grant him (Sanjoy Roy) bail?” asked an infuriated Gupta.
The assistant investigator then rushed out of the courtroom to call the lawyer, and returned to inform the magistrate that he would reach in 10 minutes.
West Bengal has been rocked by protests demanding justice for the trainee doctor, putting the Mamata Banerjee government in a tight spot. A day after the crime, the Kolkata Police had arrested Roy, a civic volunteer. The Calcutta HC had transferred the case to the CBI on 13 August after pulling up the Kolkata Police for its lackadaisical investigation.
At 4.59 pm, almost an hour after the hearing commenced, CBI counsel Deepak Poria reached the Sealdah Court and objected to the bail on grounds that the opinions of AIIMS experts on the forensic findings were pending. The magistrate then granted an extension of 14-days’ judicial custody of Roy, the only arrested accused in this case so far.
The courtroom drama spilled onto the political row that’s simultaneously unfolding in West Bengal, with the BJP upping the ante with its demands for Mamata’s resignation, and the ruling Trinamool Congress training its guns at the CBI.
Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh told the media that it was a big lapse on the part of the CBI. “Sanjoy Roy is the only accused person who was arrested by the Kolkata Police. Is the CBI delaying the case? When the accused is produced virtually in court, the CBI is missing. What do opposition parties BJP, CPIM and Congress have to say?”
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said at a rally, “Our eyes are open and we are keeping a watch if a person’s actions are suspicious. We will take action, don’t worry.”
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)