• RG Kar rape-murder: Court frames charges, sole accused says he is being framed
    Indian Express | 5 November 2024
  • Nearly three months after a 31-year-old junior doctor was raped and killed at state-run RG Kar hospital in Kolkata, a special CBI court in Sealdah on Monday framed charges against sole accused Sanjay Roy.

    Roy has been charged under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) section 64 (rape punishable with rigorous imprisonment of life term and not less than 10 years), section 66 (punishment for causing death or resulting in a persistent vegetative state) and 103/1 (murder punishable with death or imprisonment for life) among others.

    With the charges framed, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate court said that the day-to-day trial would commence on November 11.

    Roy, who was present in the court when charges were listed against him, claimed he was innocent and that he was being framed.

    “I have done nothing. I have been framed. All the blame is being put on me. I did not commit the rape-murder. I was not allowed to speak… I am completely innocent. I have been framed,” Roy shouted as he was whisked away by the police from the courtroom on Monday.

    Roy, a civic volunteer with Kolkata Police, was arrested by Kolkata Police on August 10, a day after the woman junior doctor’s body was found inside the seminar hall of the RG Kar hospital.

    The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which took over the probe from the Kolkata Police on the Calcutta High Court’s direction, in its 45-page chargesheet submitted to the court had listed 11 pieces of evidence — from forensic to documentary — to hold Roy the sole accused in the crime.

    The CBI said that the victim’s blood was found on Roy’s jeans and shoes. Also, Roy’s hair, and a Bluetooth earpiece that synced with his cellphone were found from the crime scene – the seminar hall at the RG Kar hospital – from where the woman’s body was found on the morning of August 9.

    The report of the swab taken from the area around the crime scene showed presence of Roy’s saliva as confirmed by the DNA report, the CBI, said in its chargesheet. The CBI has attached the forensic report and Roy’s DNA report with its chargesheet.

    On September 14, the CBI arrested Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of R G Kar Medical College, and Abhijit Mondol, the then officer in-charge of Talal police station, in connection with alleged tampering of evidence in the case and trying to “hush up” the incident.

    The rape and murder incident triggered widespread outrage and led to a prolonged strike by doctors across West Bengal.

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