Kolkata doctor case: CBI grilling R.G. Kar ex-principal for the third day

Former principal of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital Dr Sandip Ghosh faces questioning by the CBI for the third consecutive day today, 18 August, as part of its probe into the rape and murder of a doctor at the state-run medical establishment.

The grilling began on Friday, 16 August, and continued into the wee hours of Saturday.

Then Ghosh was again summoned to the CBI office for another round of questioning. He was seen re-entering the CBI office at the CGO complex in Salt Lake with a bunch of papers and files a little before 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, 17 August, being seen to leave only past midnight (i.e., the early hours of Sunday).

In the second round of questioning, he was quizzed about his whereabouts on the night of the death of the postgraduate trainee, who had called him to inform him of the incident and his primary reaction to it, officials said.

The CBI sleuths also compared his version of the events with those of the doctors, interns and nurses who were on duty at the hospital on that night.

During the initial round of interrogation, the former principal was asked about his first reaction to the news of the doctor's death, whom he assigned to inform the family and how as well as who had called in the police, the officials said.

"Certain answers were convoluted. He was grilled till early Saturday and then allowed to leave for home before he was asked to appear again," a CBI officer told PTI.

Ghosh resigned from his post two days after the resident's body was discovered on 9 August.

The CBI team also enquired about the weekly roster of the chest medicine department, where the victim was found to have been on duty for a gruelling 36 hours at a stretch in this instance, as well as even 48 hours in other instances.

The CBI has prepared a list of around 40 people, including doctors and police officers, whom they will be questioning, the officer said, adding that 20 people have already been interrogated.

A couple of psychologists also flew down from New Delhi to Kolkata on Saturday to take part in the questioning.

Separate teams of the central investigating agency also reached the crime scene at the R.G. Kar Hospital and the barracks of the Kolkata Police's Armed Forces 4th Battalion in Salt Lake, where the prime accused, civic volunteer Sanjay Roy, has been detained under arrest.

At R.G. Kar, the investigators collected samples and sent them to the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory for testing, the officer said. Later, the same team visited Roy’s rented residence on Sambhunath Pandit Street in South Kolkata. There, they spoke to his mother about his recent whereabouts and recorded her written statement, he said.

"We are trying to draw a map of all those places where he had been to on that day. We are also trying to talk to his friends, doctors and police officers who know him," the CBI officer said.

Amid the ongoing protests, the Kolkata Police have imposed Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (formerly Section 144 of the CrPC), around the Medical College and Hospital for seven days, effective from Sunday, 18 August.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal government on Saturday announced 17 new initiatives to ensure the safety of women in workplaces, particularly in state-run hospitals and those working a night shift. Among them are:

• designated retiring rooms

• CCTV-monitored 'safe zones'

• not putting women on night duty in the first place

• and a 'mandatory' new night safety app for working women.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced the flagship Rattirer Saathi programme to enhance the safety of women working night shifts. Chief advisor to the CM Alapan Bandyopadhyay announced the new initiative at press meet on Saturday, amid continuing protests by doctors across the state.

Apart from hospitals and medical colleges, hostels and other places engaging women on night shifts will now come under the ambit of this volunteer-driven programme, he said.

The state government will also develop a mobile application with in-app alarms, to be mandatorily downloaded by women employees. The app will alert the respective local police stations in case of an emergency.

Also, employees of both state-run and private establishments will be encouraged to form two-member teams for women working at night, creating a workplace buddy system, Bandyopadhyay said.

"We have also recommended maintaining the right ratio of male and female security staffers at workplaces," he said.

Bandyopadhyay said "breath analyser tests" will be carried out at medical colleges and hospitals in Kolkata and other districts as well, to weed out those who might present a danger to others.

Night police patrolling will also be put in place at all medical colleges, hospitals and women's hostels.

Meanwhile, the union home ministry has called for two-hourly reports from the state police on developments pertaining to this case.

Alongside, for the tenth consecutive day (Sunday, 18 August), junior doctors continue their cease-work demonstrations at state-run hospitals, demanding justice for the woman doctor who was raped and murdered at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.

Around R.G. Kar itself, prohibitory orders are in place against 'unlawful assembly' under Section 163 of the BNSS (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023).

With PTI inputs