RG Kar case: Victim’s parents approach Calcutta HC seeking fresh probe

Not satisfied with the current course of investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the tragic alleged rape and murder of a junior doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata in August this year, the parents of the victim on Thursday approached Calcutta High Court seeking a court direction to initiate a fresh probe into the matter.

The victim’s parents have claimed that they do not have any faith in the course of the current investigation by the Central agency in the matter and hence they want a fresh investigation from the beginning. The parents have moved the single-judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh with their petition in the matter. Justice Ghosh has admitted the petition and the matter might come up for a hearing next week.

According to the parents, since the trial process has already begun and the statements of witnesses are being recorded, unless Calcutta High Court intervenes in the matter right now, there might be possibilities of the probe going in the wrong direction.

Since the time last week when a special court in Kolkata granted “default bail” to two individuals accused of tampering with evidence since the CBI was unable to file a supplementary charge sheet against them within 90 days from the day of their arrest, the victim’s parents as well as representatives of the state’s medical fraternity have been accusing the CBI of gross incompetence.

The two accused were the former R.G. Kar principal Sandip Ghosh and former Tala police station officer-in-charge Abhijit Mondal. Ghosh is still behind bars owing to a pending parallel probe by the CBI against him in a case of alleged financial irregularities at R.G. Kar, while Mondal is out on bail. The CBI so far has filed only one charge sheet in the case against former Kolkata Police civic volunteer Sanjay Rai, identified as the “sole prime accused” in the alleged rape and murder.

Recently, the victim’s parents have also changed their counsel in the Supreme Court of India. West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front, an umbrella body of junior doctors in the state spearheading the movement on this issue, has already threatened to resume protests which were earlier withdrawn keeping the larger public interest in mind.