KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday pulled up the CBI, accusing it of delaying the investigation into the brutal rape and murder of a woman postgraduate trainee (PGT) doctor at the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata in 2024.
Expressing displeasure over the progress of the ongoing investigation, the High Court observed that the central agency was not conducting the probe properly.
The new CBI investigating team on Thursday submitted a detailed status report on the ongoing inquiry and sought more time to complete the investigation.
The division bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar and Justice Tirthankar Ghosh reacted strongly after the agency sought additional time.
The court directed the CBI to rework the investigation from the beginning by reconstructing the crime scene and establishing the sequence of events leading up to and following the incident at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital.
“How long the case will remain as a sub-judice matter at a time when people are looking for justice for the incident? People will wait for how many days?” Justice Sarkar asked during the hearing.
Lawyer Jayantanarayan Chatterjee, appearing for the victim's family, argued that the CBI had no proper or clear plan for the ongoing investigation. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for August 28.
Earlier, on July 31, the CBI submitted a status report before the Sealdah court on its investigation into the incident at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital.
The agency changed the investigating officer (IO) in the case, replacing Seema Pahuja with Sandeepani Garg, an Assistant Commissioner-rank officer of the Delhi Police.
In its three-page status report, the CBI informed the court that the newly constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) was examining 20 volumes of the case diary along with around 1,000 pages of documents.
The SIT is headed by an officer of the rank of Joint Director and includes the investigating officer probing the RG Kar corruption case.
The PGT doctor was found raped and murdered inside the Chest Medicine Department of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital while on night duty on August 9, 2024, triggering nationwide outrage, including protests by the medical fraternity demanding justice for the victim.
Although the Kolkata Police, and later the CBI, identified one man as directly involved and he was convicted, the victim's family alleged that the investigation was incomplete and sought a probe into the alleged role of others.
On Monday, the new team of CBI officers visited the seminar hall on the third floor of the emergency building at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the incident took place.
The team included officers from the newly formed three-member SIT, sources said.
CBI Joint Director Anurag Kumar, who heads the SIT, and Manish Upadhyay, who is leading the probe into alleged financial irregularities at the hospital, were part of the team. Assistant Commissioner of Police Sandeepani Garg, the newly appointed investigating officer in the rape and murder case, was also present.