'I am completely innocent, being framed': RG Kar rape-murder accused Sanjay Roy tells West Bengal court
Times of India | 5 November 2024
KOLKATA: Eighty-six days after a 31-year-old PGT doctor was found raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, a Sealdah court on Monday framed charges against prime accused Sanjay Roy, paving the way for daily in-camera hearing from November 11.
Roy was arrested a day after the crime on Aug 10 by Kolkata Police. CBI, which took over the case from city cops three days later, filed a 45-page chargesheet against him on Oct 7 citing 108 witnesses and implicating him in the horrific crime that shook Kolkata's conscience.
He will be tried under BNS sections 64 (1) (rape), 66 (inflicting injury that causes death or results in a persistent vegetative state) and 103 (1) (murder). If convicted, he could face life behind bars or death.
"I am completely innocent. I am being framed," Roy kept screaming from inside the police van while being taken back to Presidency Jail from court amid tight security. "I have been silent so far. But I did not commit the rape and murder. I am being intimidated by govt and my own department. They have asked me not to say a word. But I am not guilty, I am being framed to shield the real culprits," he kept saying from behind a small window in the prison van.
In court, however, his lawyers stuck to legal arguments. Sourav Bandyopadhyay, who represented him, alleged that copies of photographs of the place of occurrence of crime and CCTV footage, which are crucial evidence, had not been shared with them. "We have filed a petition with the court and CBI has said they will provide us the same," he said.
Along with the framing of charges against Roy, the court on Monday also rejected the bail plea of former RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh. He and former Tala Police Station OC Abhijit Mandal were produced in court virtually.
Both have been implicated by CBI for larger conspiracy of destruction of evidence and harbouring prime accused Roy. CBI, however, is yet to file a chargesheet against them.
Moving his bail plea, Ghosh's lawyer, Zohaib Rauf, argued that CBI was yet to substantiate allegations against the former principal. "The investigators are yet to present any evidence in court. And yet, the manner in which he is facing character assassination, people will even start believing if it were said that he trained Osama Bin Laden to destroy World Trade Centre." The court, however, rejected the bail plea.