The Central Bureau of probe (CBI) informed a special court in Sealdah on Tuesday that while they were still conducting their probe, they had not discovered any evidence linking the 31-year-old junior doctor at RG Kar Hospital to gangraping.
Seeking additional remand of Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of R G Kar hospital, and Abhijit Mondal, the former office in-charge of Tala police station, the central probe agency informed the court that they possess evidence of tampered evidence and were investigating all potential avenues.
For the past three days, Ghosh and Mondal have been under CBI arrest on charges of tampering with evidence. Tuesday marked the conclusion of their remand, therefore they appeared before the court for additional remand.
The court on Tuesday extended their remand for another three days, till September 20. “That during their police custody remand from 15.09.2024 to 17.09.2024, they were subjected to interrogation/further interrogation based on the CDRs of their mobile numbers. During the said process, they were confronted with the relevant records and witnesses. The said process is still continuing. That the DVR and Hard Disk containing the CCTV footage of Tala Police Station has also been collected and data of the same is required to be extracted on the basis of which further custodial interrogation of accused persons is required,” the court said in its order.
“…during custodial interrogation of both the accused persons, some more suspected mobile numbers have come to light and the CDRs of the same are under collection for confrontation with accused persons. That the CCTV footage of RG Kar Medical College & Hospital have been seized and the data have been examined/extracted by CFSL, Kolkata. The interrogation of accused persons with regard to the said extracted data pertaining to movements of various persons/suspected persons (as per CCTV footage during the relevant period) is required to be confronted with the accused persons,” the court said in its order.
The CBI counsel also told the court that details of “each and every phone call exchanged” by Ghosh and Mondal is required to be verified with the suspected calls to corroborate their versions “with a view to explore the possibility of criminal conspiracy hatched among main accused and co-accused persons, if any”.
“Further custodial interrogation based on the CCTV footage of Tala police station and mobile data extracted from their phones and cross verification/confrontation with other relevant witnesses is required to unearth the conspiracy/nexus, if any, and attempt to hush up the matter,” the court said in its order.
On September 15, the CBI had detained Ghosh and Mondal in relation to the rape and murder investigation. Ghosh was previously detained on September 2 by the CBI on suspicion of being involved in the RG Kar hospital’s financial irregularities. The central agency has also taken three of his associates into custody.
In relation to the rape and murder case that is currently being investigated by the CBI under a Calcutta High Court order, Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police, was taken into custody by the Kolkata Police.
In addition, the CBI alleged in its request for remand that Ghosh “wilfully” absconded from the proceedings rather than intently observing them and taking the required actions to file a FIR as soon as possible.
The probe agency also claimed that an unnecessary “delay of two days” was caused in the seizure of clothes/belongings of accused Sanjay Roy whereas his role in the commission of crime had already emerged on August 10 morning, a day after the young woman doctor was found dead. “That Dr Sandip Ghosh further failed to ensure registration of proper FIR under the appropriate section of law. It is required to ascertain whether he acted in such a manner on the direction of any other persons in furtherance of any larger conspiracy,” the CBI said.
