New Delhi, Sep 17,
The CBI was investigating if there was complicity of any other persons in the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata last month, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday.
After perusing the CBI’s latest status report on the progress of investigation, a Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud, however, said that making a disclosure about the line of CBI’s investigation would jeopardise the probe.
“Making a disclosure today of what the CBI is investigating will jeopardise the process, the line, which is taken by the CBI is to unearth the truth. The SHO has been arrested himself, we have seen status report and the CBI has responded to all of the issues we have raised, including whether the challan was given, what was the process of PMR (post-mortem report), whether evidence was destroyed, if any complicity by other person, etc,” the CJI said.
The Bench said, “There is genuine concern by the father of the deceased in regard to certain specific leads in investigation is obtained, we will not reveal his letter, it’s confidential. We will say these are very valuable inputs for the CBI. They are handicapped themselves at this point in time by the five-day delay, but they should also look at this to ensure this is obtained.”
After a counsel pointed out that the jeans and undergarments of the victim were not taken, the CJI said, “What the CBI has revealed in the report is worse, really disturbing, what you are flagging is of utmost concern, we ourselves are concerned, the CBI has flagged it for us.”
After Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, complained that Wikipedia has not removed the name and photo of the victim, the CJI said, “We will pass an order, the name and photo cannot be there.”
The hearing is still underway.
The Bench, which had on September 9 flagged a missing post-mortem challan, is also likely to examine the document likely to be submitted by the West Bengal government.
Surprised over the missing challan of the victim’s body when it was handed over for post-mortem, the Bench — which on August 18 took suo motu cognisance of the horrific incident that triggered nationwide doctors’ protest –had on the last date of hearing asked the state government to produce the crucial document on September 17.
The post-mortem challan is a crucial document, which would have entries regarding the articles and material sent along with the body for autopsy.
The junior doctors in West Bengal have been on strike since August 9 when a badly injured body of a post-graduate trainee doctor was found in the seminar room of the RG Kar Hospital, Kolkata.
The Kolkata Police initially registered a case of unnatural death and arrested Sanjay Roy — a civic volunteer the next day. However, acting on a petition filed by the victim’s parents, the Calcutta High Court on August 13 transferred the probe to the CBI, expressing dissatisfaction over the investigation conducted by the Kolkata Police. The CBI questioned Dr Sandip Ghosh, former Principal of RG Kar Medical College and then arrested him in a corruption case and the rape and murder case.
The top court had pulled up the Kolkata Police over the delay in registering an unnatural death case after the junior doctor’s body was found at the hospital, calling it “extremely disturbing”.
Noting that protest can’t be at the cost of duty, the top court had asked the West Bengal doctors protesting against the rape and murder of a colleague of theirs at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata to report back to work by 5 pm September 10.
