India's Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday took over the investigation into the alleged rape and murder of a female doctor at a government medical college in the West Bengal capital, hours after the Calcutta High Court issued directions.
Officials said after the high court order asking the state police to hand over the case files to the central investigation agency, the agency completed all formalities quickly.
As per established procedure, the CBI has re-registered the FIR against Kolkata Police. Whenever the CBI takes over a case from any state police, it first registers a police FIR as its own case.
The agency's final report giving its findings will be submitted to the special court, which may or may not be different from the allegations in the FIR.
A team of CBI officials from Delhi along with forensic scientists and medical experts will visit Kolkata on Wednesday, they said.
In addition to visiting the crime scene where the body was found, experts will likely read the autopsy report and analyze its footage, if available, officials said.
The agency may also visit the facility where the doctor lives, they said.
The agency will approach the relevant court seeking permission to detain the accused arrested by Kolkata police on Saturday, they said.
The CBI will question him in detail and may take him to the crime scene to recreate the sequence of events that led to the doctor's death, they said.
Earlier in the day, the high court ordered the state police to hand over the case diary to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by 10 am on Wednesday over botched investigation, cover-up and protests and strikes by doctors in many parts of the state. attention to this incident.
The postgraduate trainee, whose body was found on Friday morning, was allegedly raped and murdered in a seminar hall of the state-run RG Kar Hospital. On Saturday, a citizen volunteer was arrested in connection with the incident.
The victim's parents have taken High Court action seeking a court-supervised investigation into the case. Several other PILs have also been filed seeking CBI investigation.
Preliminary autopsy reports indicate that the doctor was sexually abused and murdered. The victim was allegedly bleeding from his eyes, mouth and private parts. She also suffered injuries to her left leg, neck, right hand, ring finger and lip.
Kolkata Police arrested a 33-year-old man who joined the Kolkata Police as a citizen volunteer in 2019.
The accused, a trained boxer who had been close to several senior police officers over the years, was later transferred to the Kolkata Police Welfare Board and posted to the police post at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the incident took place .
“Due to his close connections with some senior police officers and hospital authorities, he had access to all departments. No one had the guts to stop his unhindered movement in and around the hospital,” a state police official said.
However, his mother Malati Roy refuted the accusations and claimed that he was “innocent”.
Hearing the matter, Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya said there was “something missing” in the state police investigation and asked whether the statement of Sandip Ghosh, then principal of the medical college, had been recorded , the state’s lawyer responded in the negative.
When asked how the principal who submitted his resignation could resume his duties as principal of the National Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata within hours, the bench asked his lawyer to produce his resignation letter and subsequent appointment letter.
The high court told Ghosh's counsel to ask him to take long leave by 3 pm, failing which appropriate orders would be passed.
The sensational case quickly became a major issue across the country, with junior doctors and interns across West Bengal holding off work to protest the incident and demand adequate protection for hospital staff.
In solidarity, the Resident Doctors Association (RDA) of Delhi's AIIMS on Monday went on indefinite strike, suspending all elective and non-essential services, including OPDs and wards, in protest against the alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata.
Resident doctors at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, have also called for a strike.
During the hearing, the high court urged agitated doctors in West Bengal to lift the shutdown, saying they had a “pious duty” to treat patients coming to government hospitals.
(This report has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from associated news agency – PTI)
