Kolkata Court Allows CBI To Conduct Polygraph Tests On Ex-RG Kar Principal Sandip Ghosh, Five Other Students

A court in Kolkata has allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI's) plea for conducting a polygraph test on the former principal of RG Kar College and Hospital Sandip Ghosh, and five other students, colleagues of the victim, who were also accused in her rape-murder.While the application by the CBI has been allowed, the Sealdah court has not yet set a date for conducting the polygraph test of the parties.Earlier, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had told the Supreme Court in its suo moto proceedings, that the application for conducting polygraph tests was pending before the trial court.BackgroundRG Kar hospital has been the scene of a gruesome rape and murder of a 2nd Year PG medical student, last week, leading to mammoth protests across the country. The High Court had transferred the probe into the doctor's rape and murder to the CBI, which had just begun its investigation a day before the vandalism occurred.The High Court transferred the investigation into the gruesome incident to the CBI, upon noting that the state police had not been proactive in the investigation of the incident and the state administration was not "with the victim or her parents."A division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya were hearing multiple pleas, including one by the parents of the victim seeking transfer of investigation to an independent agency. In expressing concerns over the progress of the investigation under the state police.After a preliminary investigation, the Kolkata Police had arrested a 'civic volunteer' who worked with the local police force. This arrest has been termed as a cover-up, with the counsel claiming that the state police's investigation had been faulty and they were trying to make a scapegoat out of the accused in an attempt to cover up the real facts.The parents of the deceased were represented by Senior Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who submitted that they initially received a phone call claiming that she had fallen sick and upon reaching the college were told that she had committed suicide, but were not allowed to see her body for up to three hours while waiting there.The court expressed concern over the fact that the case was registered by the police as an unnatural death and remarked that the principal or authorities of the college had not done anything in their power to aid in the probe. It thus directed for the principal to be placed on indefinite leave till further orders.In noting that a report could be called for by the state police under normal circumstances, the court noted the peculiar nature of the facts in this case and acceded to the parents' prayer that any further delay would lead to the destruction of evidence.The matter was also taken up suo moto by the Supreme Court which passed directions to ensure that the identity and photos of the victim were not circulated on social media, as well as for security at RG Kar hospital, and to form a task force to look into instances of sexual violence against medical professionals.Calcutta High Court,Sandip Ghosh,RG Kar,RG Kar rape and murder,Kolkata doctor death,Kolkata,Kolkata doctor,RG Kar college,Supreme Court, Biomedical waste, medical waste, misutilisation of funds

Kolkata Court Allows CBI To Conduct Polygraph Tests On Ex-RG Kar Principal Sandip Ghosh, Five Other Students

Srinjoy Das

Tags