Ex-principal tried to vitiate evidence, CBI tells court; gets 3 more days | Kolkata
KOLKATA: Sandip Ghosh, the ex-principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and police officer Abhijit Mondal, who have been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), allegedly tampered with evidence in connection with the rape and murder of the trainee doctor, the federal agency said in its remand note on Tuesday.
In its request to a local court to seek remand of the two accused, CBI said Ghosh remained “willfully absent” from the crime scene on August 9 after the body of the 31-year-old doctor was found.
“Both the accused facilitated cremation (of the victim’s body) in a hurried manner while the family members specifically demanded a second autopsy,” the agency’s remand note on Tuesday said.
The court remanded Ghosh and Mondal, the officer-in-charge of Tala police station, in CBI custody for three days.
The two were arrested by CBI on Saturday in connection with accusations of tampering with evidence, misleading the investigation and delaying the FIR. They were initially produced before the judge on Sunday and remanded in CBI custody for three days. On Tuesday, the judge extended their CBI custody by three more days.
The trainee doctor’s body was discovered in a semi-nude condition in the seminar room of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on the morning of August 9. Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer, has been arrested as the sole accused in the crime.
According to CBI, the police registered a first information report (FIR) at 11:45pm on August 9 on a complaint by the trainee doctor’s father though her body was found at 9:30am.
The hospital authorities didn’t lodge a formal complaint. The medical superintendent and vice principal of the college sent a “confidential letter in a closed envelope” to the Tala police station at 3:40pm saying that a body was found and while requesting a FIR. The Kolkata Police previously told the Supreme Court that this wasn’t a specific complaint but spoke about discovery of a dead body.
The federal agency also found that there was an unnecessary delay of two days in seizing the clothes and belongings of the prime accused Sanjay Roy even though he was arrested on the morning of August 10.
The CBI remand note said it was investigating if Ghosh acted alone or at someone’s direction. “It is required to ascertain whether he (Ghosh) acted in such a manner on the direction of any other person in furtherance of any larger conspiracy,” it said.
CBI also said that following the interrogation of the two accused, investigators have found “some more suspected” mobile numbers and their call detail records were being checked. The agency has also seized CCTV footage of the hospital which shows movement of “several suspected persons”.
“The details of each and every phone call exchanged by the two accused is required to be verified with the suspected calls to verify their versions with a view to explore the possibility of criminal conspiracy hatched among the main accused Sanjay Roy and the co-accused persons, if any,” the agency said.
