The prime accused, Sanjay Roy, in the RG Kar rape-murder case is charged by the Kolkata Court

Nearly four months after a woman doctor’s body was discovered, a Kolkata court framed charges against the accused today.

Kolkata: Eighty-seven days after the vicious rape and killing of a 31-year-old junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College, the primary suspect, Sanjay Roy, was charged by a city court on Monday. The Sealdah Court in West Bengal framed charges against Roy under sections 103(1), 64, and 66 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita. The court also declared that the trial would be conducted on a day-to-day basis from November 11. Roy faces charges under Section 64 of the BNS, Section 66 (which pertains to punishment for causing death or resulting in a persistent vegetative state), and Section 103 (punishment for murder).

On August 10, a day after the body of the female junior doctor was found inside the RG Kar hospital’s seminar hall, Roy, a civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police, was taken into custody.

Sanjay Roy told reporters, “I have done nothing. I have been framed in this rape-murder case. Nobody is listening to me. The government is framing me and threatening me not to open my mouth.”

The government is framing me and threatening me not to open my mouth, ” the senior West Bengal Congress member Adhir Chowdhury said. Roy’s allegations need to be listened to seriously and probed into. “Such claims by an accused cannot be swept under the carpet and demand scrutiny, ” he added.

The Central Bureau of Investigation named Roy as the “sole prime accused” in its initial charge sheet submitted last month, also hinting at a “bigger conspiracy” behind the crime.

The Calcutta High Court on August 23 ordered transfer of the probe into alleged financial irregularities at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital during the tenure of its former principal, Sandip Ghosh, from a state-constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) to the CBI. Ghosh was arrested in the case.

Let’s go back to the primary incident that occurred on August 9. The body of a female trainee physician was discovered in the seminar hall at RG Kar Medical College on August 9 in a partially nude state. After a long 36-hour shift and study cycle without a break, she had dozed off on a platform in the college’s seminar room when she was sexually assaulted. CCTV footage showed Sanjay Roy entering the building at the estimated time of the crime. The main accused, Roy, was apprehended by the Kolkata police a day after the incident.

According to the autopsy report and preliminary investigation, the victim suffered significant injuries and was sexually abused.

According to the CBI, Roy’s pants and shoes contained the victim’s blood. Additionally, Roy’s hair and a Bluetooth headset that connected to his phone were discovered at the crime scene, which was the seminar hall at the RG Kar hospital where the woman’s body was discovered early on August 9.

In its chargesheet, the CBI stated that the DNA report verified the presence of Roy’s saliva in the swab sample retrieved from the vicinity of the murder site. Along with its charge sheet, the CBI has included Roy’s DNA report and the forensic report.

The 31-year-old junior doctor had chosen respiratory medicine as her specialization. At RG Kar, the campus she called her “second home,” she immersed herself in patient management, the report said further.

“We are a poor family and we raised her with a lot of hardship. She worked extremely hard to become a doctor. All our dreams have been shattered in one night,” her 67-year-old father told to the reporter. “This was to be the third year of our home Puja and she had plans to organise a bigger one this time. This was meant to be a special occasion as she would have completed her PG,” her mother said. “Now, all we want are arrests and proper punishment for all the culprits involved. Only that can offer solace to her soul.”

According to officials, Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College, was found to be “deceptive” during his polygraph test and layered voice analysis when responding to crucial questions about the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee woman doctor.

Investigating the matter, the CBI detained Ghosh on September 2 in relation to hospital financial irregularities. He was eventually charged with evidence tampering by the federal investigation agency.

According to the CBI, Ghosh did not file a police complaint right away after learning of the trainee doctor’s rape and death at 9:58 a.m. on August 9.

They claimed that despite the fact that the victim was pronounced dead at 12:44 p.m., he later filed a “vague complaint” through the medical superintendent-vice principal.

“He did not try to get an FIR lodged immediately. Rather, a new theory of suicide was introduced, which is not possible as per an external injury visible on the body of the victim that was undressed at the lower part,” the CBI has said.

The probe agency has alleged that Ghosh got in touch with Tala Police Station’s Officer in Charge (OC) Abhijit Mondal at 10.03 a.m. and with an advocate at 1.40 p.m. while a case of unnatural death was registered at 11.30 p.m.

The body of the PG trainee at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital was discovered in the chest medicine seminar room in an “unconscious state,” according to general diary entry 542. However, the body had previously been checked by a physician who had discovered the victim dead.

There are allegations that the general journal entry was created “in conspiracy with hospital authorities and other unknown persons” and purposefully included inaccurate information.

Officials stated that Mondal attempted to shield the accused Sanjay Roy and other individuals who had unauthorized access to the crime scene, which could have resulted in evidence tampering, but his failure to file a formal complaint and safeguard the crime scene caused “damage of vital evidence available at the crime scene.”

On the other side, right after the incident, widespread outrage led to a prolonged strike by doctors across West Bengal. Doctors and other medical staff have been protesting for security in different parts of the country, affecting the functioning of health facilities. They started a hunger strike to make the protest stronger.

“Seven junior doctors in Kolkata and two in north Bengal started the hunger strike on October 5. Since then, six doctors have been hospitalized. As soon as one fell ill, others joined the protest to replace him,” said a junior doctor.

The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front met with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and resolved to end their hunger strike on Monday, October 21, 2024. The resident physicians have been fasting until the end of their lives at Esplanade in the center of Kolkata.