The CBI has made several shocking revelations in its status report on the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. The probe agency, along with Kolkata Police, submitted their respective status reports to the Supreme Court, as the apex court is hearing the matter.
CBI has alleged that the crime scene was altered and tampered with before the case was handed over by Kolkata Police, there was long delay between discovery of the crime and registration of the case, the FIR was registered after the body was cremated, and there an attempt to cover up the case. The CBI also mentioned that the family was initially told that it was a suicide, as already revealed.
The Solicitor General representing the CBI told the court that the FIR was registered at 11:45 PM, after the body of the victim woman was cremated. He added that CBI has not been handed over the medical report of the injury of the accused, saying the agency was not told that such a report exists. The SG said that after the discovery of the body, senior doctors and colleagues of the victim asked for videography, which means even they felt there was a cover-up.
SG: we didn't know there is such report, we entered the investigation on the 5th day, everything was altered
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) August 22, 2024
Sibal: everything is videographed not altered
SG: MOST SHOCKING FACT, FIR IS REGISTERED AT 11;45 PM AFTER THE CREMATION #KolkataDoctorDeath #RGKarHospitalRapeMurder…
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud noted the timeline of the events, and said that one aspect is extremely disturbing, the long delay in registering the case. He noted that the General Diary entry of the death was recorded at 10:10 AM as per police records, but securing of the crime scene, the seizures etc was done at 11:30 at night.
Justice Mishra noted that while autopsy was conducted on evening hours, the general diary entry of unnatural death was recorded after that, at 11:30 PM. Kapil Sibal representing Kolkata Police said that the post mortem examination was done from 6:10 PM to 7:10 PM.
The CJI read out the timeline of the events on 9th August, which started at 10:10 am with the recording of the general diary based on a phone call received that a PG lady doctor was found unconscious at 3rd floor. The medical board verbally opined that death was due to strangulation, with the possibility of sexual assault. Then the post mortem was done at 6-7 PM, after which the police started investigation. Then, unnatural death was recoded at 11:30 PM and the FIR was registered at 11:45 PM. The CJI noted that a blue jeans was found on the dias.
CJI: (reads) after PMR, and inquest, the body is handed over to mother, after return to the police station a UD case is registered, all police superiors were informed….it appears that initial report of UD was received and registered at 10:10 AM, after they recieved they return…
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) August 22, 2024
Justice Pardiwala said that when it was decided to conduct Post Mortem, it means that this is a case of unnatural death. Because post mortem test is not done for natural deaths. But despite that, unnatural death was recorded hours after post mortem, at 11:20 PM and FIR was registered at 11:45 PM. He said that this is very surprising, because post mortem is done after recording unnatural death.
However, Kapil Sibal claimed that the unnatural death case was registered at 1:46 PM. But the court noted that this is not mentioned in the report. The court said that even 1:46 PM is very late, given that the body was discovered in the morning itself. When the timeline mentioned by Sibal didn’t match with the records, the court wondered what document he was referring to. The court asked the presence of a responsible police officer in the next hearing to avoid such mismatches.
Kapil Sibal claimed that the recorded 11:30 PM is the time the police officer reached the police station after conducting the procedures, but the court refused to accept that. The CJI said that if the case was registered after the police returned to the police station after the post-mortem was done and body was handed over to the family, how the inquest report prepared in the afternoon refer to the unnatural death report.
Justice Pardiwala said that he has not come across such a case in 30 years, where there is such a long delay in recording a case after discovery of a dead body with clear signs of unnatural death. He also noted that the conduct of the Assistant Superintendent of Police is also very doubtful.
Justice Pardiwala: give us the hard copy only.
— Bar and Bench (@barandbench) August 22, 2024
Justice Pardiwala: Let the CBI look into this.. it looks like this has been inserted later
Sibal: report of ACJM can come.. #SupremeCourt #SupremeCourtOfIndia #RGKarCollege #RGKarMedicalcollege #RGKarMedicalCollegeHospital…
When Sibal referred to a report showing that the general diary entry for unnatural death was recorded at 1:45 PM, not 11:30 PM, the court said it looks doubtful. Justice Pardiwala said that it looks like it was inserted into the records later, and asked the CBI to look into it.
Both the CBI and the court agreed that the case was registered at 11:30 PM, not in the afternoon as claimed by Kolkata Police.
Apart from questioning the lapses in handling the case, the court also questioned the role of police during the vandalism of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
