KOLKATA: A CCTV footage which was leaked in social media found that many outsiders including police, a lawyer of the hospital Shantanu Dey, and hospital staff, were near the victim’s body at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, but not the victim's family members.
Questions have been raised as to how a lawyer was sent before by the hospital and not by police. Additionally, who called the lawyer? Suspicions were brewing inside the hospital campus that whether the hospital authorities knew about the rape and murder much before the police officials went to the spot.
Meanwhile, CBI names ex-principal of RG Kar Dr Sandip Ghosh in their FIR.
In the CCTV footage it was also found that many hospital authorities including the Head of the Department of Forensic Science was also present at the site and questions have been raised about whether evidence could have been tampered as more people were present at the site other than police officers.
However, Kolkata Police debunks the fake claim by BJP that the crime scene was crowded and evidence was tampered with on August 9. The RG Kar Seminar Hall was cordoned off 40 ft from the crime scene. The gathering outside had only the police, forensics, doctors, hospital staff, and not outsiders.
The 43-second video, which surfaced on social media, purportedly shows doctors, police officials and even private security guards deployed at the hospital gathering inside the seminar room, where the victim's body was found.
The New Indian Express could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
“The seminar room measures 51’ X 32’. The place where the victim’s body was found inside the seminar room, was cordoned off using curtains. There is no question of anyone entering that cordoned-off area. People, who can be seen gathering in the video, were all outside the cordoned off area,” said a senior IPS officer while speaking to media persons at the Kolkata Police headquarters.
On August 22, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the case, told the Supreme Court that the crime scene was altered. Meanwhile, the state government had refuted the charges.
According to the document submitted by the Kolkata Police, while the victim’s body was first spotted at 9:30 am on August 9, officers of the local police station arrived at the spot around 10:30 am. The crime scene was secured to prevent any contamination, police had claimed. Officers of the detective department’s homicide wing arrived at 11 am.
“The video shows that the crime scene had almost become a fair ground. Several people can be seen loitering inside the crime scene. Is it possible to keep the evidence intact with so many people entering and leaving the crime scene? That’s why the CBI is facing difficulty in conducting the investigation. The CBI counsel has already mentioned this in the Supreme Court,” said Sukanta Majumdar, state BJP president.
“I have seen the video. Some over enthusiastic people may have gathered there. Later, police sealed the crime scene to prevent any contamination. I am sure the guilty will be identified and punished,” Mayor Firhad Hakim told media persons.
Meanwhile, Dr Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Dr Debasish Shome, a forensic medicine professor of the hospital and Dr Sanjay Vashisth, the hospital’s former superintendent were summoned for questioning by the CBI on Monday.
On the other hand, the new principal Manas Kumar Bandhyopadhyay and new deputy superintendent Saptarshi Chakraborty were called by the CBI at their office on Monday, in Salt Lake to get some documents related to financial irregularities in the medical scam, that surfaced after the RG Kar former principal's arrest.
According to an official, Principal Sandip Ghosh gave inconsistent responses during questioning over the past ten days, leading to the decision for additional polygraph tests. The CBI had first conducted lie-detection tests on Ghosh and the five others on Saturday.
