CBI in court for arresting police officer in Calcutta horror case

Calcutta:

Dr Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata, spoke to Abhijit Mondal, duty officer of Tala police station, hours after a 31-year-old doctor was found dead on the hospital premises. There may be a link that needs to be unraveled, the CBI told a Kolkata court today.

The central agency last night arrested Mr Mondal on charges of fabricating evidence in the rape and murder case that has rocked the country. Dr Ghosh, who was earlier arrested in a financial irregularities case, is now also accused of fabricating evidence.

The two were brought before the court today and remanded in custody for two days. The case will be heard again on September 17.

“The FIR was registered at night. We have call recordings showing communication between the OC and Sandip Ghosh. There could be a connection and we need to unravel the case. We want to take both of them to task,” the CBI lawyer told the court.

“There is no conflict between CBI and police. We want to find out the truth. For us, he is not a police officer, but a suspect,” the lawyer added.

Both the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court have questioned the delay in registering the FIR, which was filed over 14 hours after the doctor’s body was found. The courts asked why the hospital administration, headed by Dr Ghosh, did not file a police complaint that would have ensured the filing of an FIR.

“He was required to register an FIR. They tried to downplay it as a suicide. He had failed to do so. It was a case of sexual assault and he should have been more cautious. He was involved in a conspiracy with others,” the CBI told the court today.

Mr Mondal’s lawyer replied: “You claim there was a delay. You do not say whether I am an accused or a witness. There is no ground for arrest here. This is at best a case of alleged dereliction of duty. A departmental inquiry could have been conducted for this.”

The CBI told the court that Mr Mondal was not charged with rape and murder, but may have played a role in a larger conspiracy as part of an alleged cover-up.

These are the first two arrests made by the CBI in the rape and murder case during the month-long investigation. Earlier, the Kolkata Police had arrested volunteer Sanjoy Roy in the case. The CBI took Roy into custody after the Supreme Court handed over the investigation to the central agency.

Trinamool has come under fire over the rape and murder incident and is questioning what progress the CBI has made since it came to power.