Kolkata:

Four colleagues of the 31-year-old doctor, who was raped and murdered in Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, will be put through the lie-detector test because their statements are contradicting each other, sources from CBI have said. These include two first-year postgraduate trainees, a house surgeon and an intern.

Sources in the central agency have said that it doesn’t appear that the four doctors were involved in crime, but it wants to check if they played a role in tampering with evidence or were part of a conspiracy. The investigators have also pieced together the sequence of events the night before the doctor was sexually assaulted and killed. 

According to Kolkata Police’s timeline of events, one of these doctors saw the victim’s body in the seminar hall around 9.30 am the next day and alerted the authorities. All these four doctors had been questioned by the city police before CBI took over the probe, the timeline reveals.

What Has CBI Found?

The CBI has found fingerprints of two of these four doctors in the third-floor seminar room where the body was found. A CCTV camera had captured the house surgeon going from first floor to the third floor that night. The house surgeon has said that he went to the third floor at 2.45 am that night. The intern was on the third floor and had spoken to the victim that night, the CBI has found.

What Happened That Night

According to the sources, the victim and two first-year postgraduate trainees had dinner around midnight. Then they went to the seminar room and watched Neeraj Chopra’s javelin event at the Olympics. Around 2 am, the two colleagues went to the sleep room where doctors on duty rested. The victim stayed back in the seminar room. The intern has said that he was in the interns’ room. All these three rooms — the seminar hall, the sleep and the interns’ room are located close to each other on the third floor.

The Morning After

Around 9.30 am, one of the postgraduate trainee doctors, with whom the victim had dinner the night before, went to look for her before the ward rounds began. He found “her body in motionless state from a distance”, the Kolkata Police timeline says. He then informed his colleagues and senior doctors who alerted hospital authorities.

The Lie-Detector Test

The CBI has got permission for conducting the lie-detector test on the four doctors and Dr Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, who has drawn fire for his handling of the situation. A special court gave the go-ahead for this yesterday. Lie detector test can only be conducted after a permission from the court and the consent of the suspect.

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court today said the delay in filing the FIR in the Kolkata doctor’s rape-murder case cannot be justified and again questioned the role of Dr Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, who has come under the lens in the aftermath of the incident.

Responding to West Bengal government counsel Kapil Sibal’s submission that Kolkata Police followed the procedure to a tee, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said, “Procedure is a separate issue, but the point remains. What is the reason the FIR is lodged almost 14 hours after the discovery of the (body). The most important thing is that the principal of the college should have come straightaway to the college and directed the filing of the FIR. Who was he in touch with?”

“The moment he tenders the resignation, he is appointed as principal of another college” the Chief Justice asked. Mr Sibal said the state will respond to this matter separately.

The CBI and Kolkata Police submitted separate status reports to the Supreme Court today. The central agency’s submission related to the probe into the 31-year-old doctor’s rape and murder, while the city police provided an update on the investigation into the mob vandalism at the Kolkata hospital in the early hours of August 15.

Mr Sibal also sought protection for the state government so that it can tackle future protests. To this, the Chief Justice asked, “How can we protect the State?” Mr Sibal then cited the court’s earlier direction that the state will not take coercive action on peaceful protests. “We have not for a moment said that the requisite provisions of laws should not be complied with. What we meant was stop arresting people who are…,” the Chief Justice replied.

The bench clarified that that while the court had permitted peaceful protests, it should not be misconstrued to mean that State cannot lawfully use its power. “However, we categorically reaffirm that peaceful protests shall not be disturbed and disrupted and the State shall not take any action against those peacefully protesting against the incident which took place in RG Kar Hospital,” the bench said.

The bench, also comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, posted the next hearing for September 5.

The court is hearing a bench of petitions relating to the chilling rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at the state-run hospital. The victim, a postgraduate trainee doctor, was found dead in the seminar hall of the hospital on August 9. Medical examination confirmed rape.

Kolkata Police arrested an accused, a civic volunteer named Sanjoy Roy, a day after the incident. However, days later, the Calcutta High Court transferred the case to the CBI, noting no significant progress in the city police’s probe. The CBI is yet to make any arrest in the case.

New Delhi:
The Resident Doctors Association (RDA) at the AIIMS Delhi will today provide elective OPD services outside the Nirman Bhawan, which houses the Union health ministry amid protests over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata on August 9.

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