Calcutta High Court orders CBI SIT to probe R G Kar rape-murder case cover-up charges

The Calcutta High Court has ordered setting up a three-member special investigation team (SIT) of the CBI. The SIT was directed to probe the developments from the time the RG Kar Medical College's trainee doctor had dinner at the hospital till her cremation the next evening.

The trainee doctor was raped and murdered in the hospital on the night of August 9, 2024, which caused an uproar in West Bengal as well as among the doctors' community across the country.

There have been allegations that evidence was destroyed and attempts were made to downplay the incident in its immediate aftermath.

A high court division bench comprising Justices Shampa Sarkar and Tirthankar Ghosh on Thursday said the CBI's joint director, east, will head the team. The other two members of the team would be decided within 48 hours of the court's order.

The bench said that considering the social ramifications of the gruesome incident, a three-member SIT would look into charges of evidence destruction and allegations made by the medic's parents that there were attempts to hush up and downplay the incident.

The parents of the doctor moved the high court seeking further investigation into the rape and murder of their daughter, claiming that more than one person was involved in the gruesome crime.

Civic volunteer Sanjay Roy was sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of the post-graduate trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

(With PTI inputs)