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Sealdah court rejects RG Kar victim’s parents plea to visit crime scene
The judge also questioned why the CBI didn’t object to a request to allow lawyers retained by the victim’s family to visit the crime scene and rejected the family’s application
KOLKATA: A Sealdah court on Wednesday pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) not filing a charge sheet against the two men accused of tampering with evidence in the August 2024 rape and murder of a junior doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
The judge also questioned why the CBI didn’t object to a request to allow lawyers retained by the victim’s family to visit the crime scene and rejected the family’s application.
“On Wednesday, additional chief judicial magistrate Arijit Mondal rejected the family’s appeal saying the judiciary has no authority to allow a parallel investigation when the CBI is already conducting a probe,” a lawyer said, requesting anonymity.
The court also pulled up CBI for giving consent to the family’s request instead of objecting to it, observing that the CBI didn’t seem to be convinced about its findings and the report filed by its forensic experts.
A former civic police volunteer Sanjay Roy was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in January this year for the rape and murder of the junior doctor. But the victim’s family had expressed dissatisfaction with the CBI’s probe and recently asked the court to let their lawyers visit the crime scene.
After taking over the case in August, CBI investigators arrested Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of the medical college, and Abhijit Mondal, the former officer-in-charge of the local Tala police station, on September 14 last year on charges of tampering with evidence.
Both were released on bail in this case because the CBI did not file the charge sheet against them. Ghosh continues to be in jail because a charge sheet was filed against him in November in a second case involving financial corruption at the hospital.
“The magistrate pulled up the CBI during the hearing saying the two accused could obtain bail only because the agency could not file charge sheets against them,” said a second lawyer.
No CBI official commented on the hearing.
Senior advocate Phiroze Edulji, who is a counsel of the victim’s parents, last month moved the Calcutta high court to seek permission to visit the crime scene. He said this was necessary because he and his team of lawyers have only seen photos and videos of the place. The high court referred the request to the Sealdeah court.
