In the wake of the rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital, social media is abuzz with allegations of complacency in the probe, a larger conspiracy, and alleged attempts to shield the “real accused”. The victim’s family had also alleged that the hospital administration and the police made them wait for three hours to see the victim’s body.
But the Kolkata police’s investigation report presented by the CBI to a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on August 22 counters most of these claims. Newslaundry accessed the nine-page timeline report that chronologically details the police investigation into the crime on August 9 and August 10, beginning from hours after it occurred.
The report states that within half an hour of discovering the body, the crime scene was tightly cordoned off before the forensic experts arrived. The victim’s family was taken to the seminar hall to view her body within 10 minutes of their arrival at the hospital.
The report said that the statement of Sandip Ghosh, the then college principal, was recorded even before protesters alleged that he was not being examined. Ghosh is currently under CBI scrutiny for financial malpractices.
A CBI officer told Newslaundry that the timeline report by the Kolkata police corroborates with the federal agency’s probe. “We have not yet come across any evidence that can raise suspicion of involvement of more than one person other than Sanjay Roy, the arrested suspect. We are waiting for the DNA matching report from the CFSL which can endorse it scientifically.”
Here’s a blow-by-blow account of the police investigation as stated in the timeline report.
Spotting the body, securing the crime scene
In the report, Kolkata police have claimed to have secured the crime scene within 10 minutes of being informed. It states that senior officials and forensic experts too arrived at the spot and swung into action within the next 20 minutes.
09:30 am: Soumitra Roy, a first-year postgraduate trainee from the chest department, is set to begin his ward round when he walks into the hospital’s seminar hall looking for the victim. He purportedly sees her motionless, half-naked body on a wooden platform from a distance and informs colleagues and senior doctors. Soon the hospital authorities are informed. Roy’s statement is recorded.
09:40 am: Biswajit Kundu, assistant sub-inspector posted at the hospital’s police outpost, is the first police officer to reach the spot. He secures the crime scene and informs the local Tala police station.
10:10 am: Tala police officials receive information from the hospital and the police outpost about the woman’s body lying in the seminar hall. The police make an entry in the general diary book (no. 542) and set out for the hospital.
10:30 am: Tala police officials, including a woman officer, arrive at the crime scene, take stock of the situation, and collect the particulars of the victim. The scene of crime is now tightly secured to prevent any contamination.
10:52 am: The family of the victim is informed. Police record a statement of the hospital’s head of the department.
Special team for murder cases steps in
The sleuths from the Kolkata police’s homicide wing also arrived at the crime scene and engaged experts to probe the case.
11:00 am: The officer-in-charge of the detective department’s homicide wing arrives on the spot.
11:30 am to 12 noon: Deputy Commissioner of Police Abhishek Gupta also arrives.
12:25 pm: The police detective department’s scientific wing’s photographer, videographer, and fingerprint and footprint experts reach the spot. The first photo was taken at 12:29 pm. Photographs were eventually handed over to the CBI.
12:44 pm: On duty medical officer at emergency officially declares the victim dead, issuing a death certificate.
01:00 pm: The state Forensic Science Laboratory team begins examining and taking photographs of the crime scene.
Victim’s family arrives and ‘immediately’ see the body
The police report did not corroborate the allegation that the victim’s parents were made to wait three hours before being allowed to see the body. Instead, the timeline report says that the parents were allowed to look at the body in the middle of the forensic experts’ examination of the crime scene and as soon as they arrived.
01:00 pm: The HOD informs the police about the arrival of the victim’s parents. His statement is recorded, specifying the exact time when the police were informed.
01:10 pm: Family members of the victim, guided by the hospital authority, reach the seminar hall. The victim’s body is shown to them amid the FSL’s examination and photography of the crime.
Demands of magisterial inquest, postmortem
The victim’s family members and colleagues demanded a magisterial inquest and postmortem in the presence of a judicial magistrate. The demands were met. The police too videographed the procedure. During the postmortem, the victim’s colleagues were allowed to be present as witnesses.
04:20 pm to 4:40 pm: An inquest by a magistrate was conducted and recorded on video in the presence of the victim’s family and colleagues.
05:10 pm: The body was moved from the seminar hall for postmortem.
06:10 pm to 7:10 pm: The body’s postmortem examination was conducted by the board of forensic doctors in the presence of a judicial magistrate and the victim’s family representatives and colleagues. The autopsy surgeon also collected and seized evidence from the body. The procedure was recorded on video.
Seizure from the crime scene
Forensic experts spent more than nine hours to examine the crime scene and collect evidence. The dog squad was also engaged.
08:30 pm to 10:45 pm: Forensic experts seize 40 items from the crime scene, and the process is videographed in the presence of local witnesses.
08:37 pm to 08:52 pm: The police team 3-D maps the crime scene and its surroundings.
11:45 pm: A formal FIR is registered on the basis of the complaint lodged by the victim’s family.
Suspect handcuffed, injuries on his body
On August 10, the CCTV footage of Sanjay Roy walking towards the seminar hall with his Bluetooth-enabled earphone on his shoulder and returning without the gadget helped cops identify him as a suspect. A similar earphone was recovered from near the body.
When Roy was detained and his cellphone’s Bluetooth option was switched on, it connected with the earphone recovered from the seminar hall.
10:00 am on August 10: Sanjay Roy is arrested after prolonged interrogation and his confession of guilt. He had fresh injuries on his left cheek, abrasion on his left hand, between his ring finger, and abrasion over the back of his left thigh, among other injury marks. These injuries were photographed and noted in the medical examination report.
10:05 am to 10:21 am: The mobile phone of the accused is seized under videography after preparation of the seizure list.
11:00 am to 01:00 pm: Medical and medico-legal examination of the accused is done at SSKM Hospital. Doctors collect samples of urethral swabs, semen, hair, nail clippings, and nail scraping.
“We have got all the statements that were recorded by the Kolkata police and the evidence collected by them,” said a CBI officer.
A total of eleven persons who were believed to be acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case were examined, including principal Ghosh and four colleagues of the victim who were also on duty on the night of the crime.
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