Kolkata: A division bench of the Calcutta High Court Thursday directed a fresh probe into the R.G. Kar rape and murder case by a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to be headed by an officer in the rank of Joint Director of the central probe agency.
The division bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar and Justice Tirthankar Ghosh passed the order Thursday afternoon after considering the demands raised by the victim’s family members in the matter and observing that their plea for a fresh probe was justified.
The next hearing in the matter has been scheduled for June 24. The CBI was also directed by the court Thursday to submit a progress report before the division bench on the next date of hearing.
The body of the victim, a lady junior doctor of the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, who became the victim of a brutal rape and murder, was found inside the seminar room within the hospital premises on the morning of August 9, 2024.
An SIT of Kolkata Police had initially started the investigation in the matter and had also arrested the sole convict in the case, Sanjay Roy, an erstwhile civic volunteer attached to the city police.
Later, the CBI took over the probe following a direction from the Calcutta High Court and also identified Roy as the sole accused in the crimes of rape and murder.
Roy was subsequently convicted by a trial court and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, the CBI challenged the trial court order before the Calcutta High Court, seeking the death penalty for Roy.
However, not satisfied with the CBI investigation, the victim’s family members approached the Calcutta High Court seeking a fresh investigation in the matter. They also accused the CBI of handling the probe in a lackadaisical manner and merely endorsing the findings of the initial investigation conducted by Kolkata Police.
Initially, the matter was being heard by the Calcutta High Court division bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha and Justice Rai Chattopadhyay. However, that division bench recently recused itself from hearing the matter, following which the case was referred to the division bench of Justice Sarkar and Justice Ghosh.
Thursday marked only the second hearing in the matter before the new division bench, following which the court ordered a fresh probe in the case by the CBI.
