Kolkata: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday questioned three forensic doctors who conducted the post-mortem examination on the 31-year-old junior doctor who was allegedly raped and murdered at Kolkata’s state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, officials of the federal agency said.
The preliminary inquest and post-mortem examination were conducted at the same hospital after the woman’s body was found at the third-floor seminar hall of the chest department where she was on duty. The crime took place sometime between 3am and 5am on August 9, the post-mortem examination indicated, according to the police.
Dr Arunava Dutta Chowdhury, who took charge as head of the chest department on August 1, and the hospital’s former superintendent, Dr Sanjay Vashisth, who was transferred immediately after the crime, were also questioned during the day at the CGO Complex in Salt Lake on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata, agency officials said.
Three forensic doctors, Rina Das, Molly Banerjee, and Apurba Biswas, who conducted the post-mortem, were also summoned to the CGO Complex and questioned for more than four hours, said officials.
The preliminary inquest was conducted in the presence of a magistrate by three other doctors, Ratna Debnath, Diyasini Roy, and Antea Burman. HT saw a copy of the inquest report, which mentions 10 types of injuries.
“The post-mortem report has not been made public yet. It will be placed before the Calcutta high court, which ordered the CBI probe in the middle of the police investigation,” a senior doctor at the hospital said.
Sanjay Roy (31), a civic volunteer working for the Kolkata police, was arrested on August 10 as the prime suspect. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee later said some “insiders” could also be involved.
The interrogations at CGO Complex started hours after a large group of unidentified men stormed into the hospital around 12.40am on Thursday and destroyed hospital property at rampant in the middle of the junior doctors’ ongoing agitation, said police. The rampage took place at the same emergency building where the chest department is located on the third floor. However, the miscreants could not climb up to the third floor since it was locked.
The CBI team from Delhi visited the crime scene on Wednesday afternoon and questioned several hospital staff. The investigators also collected the duty rosters to determine who were on duty on August 9.
Agency officials said that Abhijit Mondal, officer-in-charge of the Tala police station where a case of unnatural death was registered, was also summoned, and he was asked to visit the CBI office with the original case diary. Mondal did not make any statement before the media.
On August 13, the court-monitored CBI probe was ordered with immediate effect by the bench of chief justice TS Sivagnanam and justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya a day after CM Banerjee, who is also in-charge of the home and health departments, asked the Kolkata Police to complete its investigation by August 18, failing which, she said, the case would be handed over to CBI, a demand raised by the victim’s parents and opposition parties.
The court order was passed after hearing on a writ petition filed by the woman’s parents, whom the chief minister met on August 12 at their residence in the North 24 Parganas district. As many as five more petitions were also filed by some senior lawyers and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari.
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“The parents of the victim apprehend that if the state police is permitted to continue the investigation, in all probabilities, the investigation will be derailed and the culprits will not be brought to books, and therefore they pray that the case on hand is unlike other cases and involves extraordinary urgency for this Court to intervene so that the investigation is transferred to an independent agency,” the bench said in its order, a copy of which was seen by HT.
Dr Sandip Ghosh, the college principal, said on August 12 that he had resigned from service, but hours later he was posted as principal of Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH).
The role of Dr Ghosh, against whom multiple allegations of corruption have been raised by several doctors’ organisations, came under scrutiny during the court hearing.
“Several submissions were made at the bar with regard to how highly influential Professor Sandip Kumar Ghosh is; however, these aspects are not gone into at this stage. We have advised the learned advocate appearing for Professor Sandip Kumar Ghosh to direct his client to immediately proceed on leave, failing which the Court will be compelled to pass necessary orders,” the order said.
The agency officials said others, including some senior officials of the hospital, will be questioned on Friday.
