Kolkata Rape-Murder: CBI Probe So Far Reveals 'No Gangrape', Crime Scene Altered

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) submitted a status report on the Kolkata doctor rape case before the Supreme Court on Thursday. In its report, the CBI claimed the crime scene was altered and the West Bengal Police told parents initially that it was a suicide.

The Supreme Court was hearing a suo muto case which pertains to the alleged rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor in the seminar hall of the RG Kar College and Hospital in Kolkata. The incident took place on August 9. Parents claimed that they were informed in the morning that their daughter died by suicide. They also alleged that they had to wait 3 hours before authorities allowed them to see their daughter. The body was reportedly found in a half-naked condition .

The Kolkata Police handed over the case to the CBI.

1. Crime scene altered: The crime scene was altered when the CBI entered the investigation on the fifth day, said Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI in the court. Advocate Kabil Sibal, appearing for the West Bengal government, countered Tushar Mehta's submission, saying everything is videographed not altered.

2. Parents were initially told it was suicide: Mehta said the first FIR was registered after cremation at 11:45 pm. "Then they told parents that it was suicide, then death and then friends of the doctor at the hospital insisted on videography, and thus they also suspected something is amiss," he was quoted by Bar and Bench as saying.

During the hearing on Thursday, the Supreme Court asked the reason for 14-hour delay in lodging of FIR in the incident. Kapil Sibal said, "...it was the father of the deceased who did not permit the filing of FIR."

3. No gangrape? Sources told India Today that the CBI probe does not indicate that the trainee doctor was not gangraped. The investigation suggested that Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer arrested for the crime, was the only person involve . Roy was arrested on August 10, a day after the body was found on RG Kar College and Hospital premises.

The DNA report also reportedly confirmed the involvement of one person. As per the India Today report, the forensic report indicated that the doctor was raped and killed by Roy. However, the CBI is yet to conclude its investigation into the alleged involvement of more people in the case.

During the court hearing on Thursday, there was confusion over when the "unnatural death" (UD) case was registered. The Supreme Court expressed surprise that the "postmortem preceded registration of UD case."

Justice Pardiwala asked as to when the body was taken for the post-mortem, was it then a case of unnatural death or not. "If it was not unnatural death, then what was the need of post-mortem...when you start doing the post-mortem, then it is a case of unnatural death...UD case of 861 of 2024 as registered on 23:30 hours and FIR was registered at 23:45. is this record correct?," the judge asked.

Sibal stated that the unnatural death case was registered at 1:45 pm. He told the court, "The Post mortem report, the seizure list all has the UD case report time and number. Even the inquest report has it. This is all mentioned in the case diary."

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