Calcutta HC Orders Fresh CBI Probe into RG Kar case

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court ordered a fresh CBI probe on Thursday into the sensational case of rape and murder of a young doctor on duty by a civic police volunteer at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in the wee hours of August 9 in 2024.

This time, the probe will focus on the allegations of a larger conspiracy of a 'cover-up' i.e. destruction of evidence from the time the victim had dinner at her workplace in a break from her duty on the fateful day before the horrific crime to the last rites in a hurry.

An HC division bench comprising Justice Shampa Sarkar and Justice Tirthankar Ghosh passed the order of the new probe from a different aspect on the sequence of events. It also constituted a three-member CBI special investigation team (SIT), headed by the CBI joint director (East Zone) based on Kolkata, and directed it to submit a report on June 25.

The HC also granted the CBI liberty to investigate all necessary aspects of the case and sought to know the progress in the probe by the CBI in the last one year and seven months after it submitted a chargesheet on October 7 in 2024. The CBI informed that it has recorded the statements of at least 70 people meanwhile.

According to the division bench, the CBI needs to speak to the victim's family members including her parents who had petitioned last year for the fresh probe from the ‘hush-up’ angle. The fresh probe-order came days after the division bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha and Justice Rai Chattopadhyay recused themselves from further hearing on the victim's parents’ plea on May 12 after initially directing the CBI to start the fresh probe in April.

The case was then redirected to the bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul who assigned it to the bench of Justice Sarkar and Justice Ghosh. Recently, West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari announced the suspension of three senior IPS officers, who were at the centre of the controversy of a cover-up in the case two years ago, and departmental proceedings against them. They are Vineet Goyal, the then Kolkata Police Commissioner, and his two deputies, Abhishek Gupta and Indira Mukherjee.