The order folds the matter into the wider RG Kar conspiracy probe and bars a parallel state police investigation.
The Calcutta High Court has ordered that a case being investigated by the West Bengal Police over the alleged hurried cremation of the RG Kar hospital rape and murder victim and destruction of evidence be transferred to the CBI.
The court said the state police and the CBI could not investigate the same issue at the same time, as a CBI special investigation team is already probing allegations of a larger conspiracy in the rape and murder of the on-duty doctor at the state-run hospital in north Kolkata in August 2024.
A division bench of Justices Shampa Sarkar and Tirthankar Ghosh said, “We are of the opinion that, on the selfsame issue, both the CBI and the state agency cannot carry forward the investigation.”
The bench ordered that the case registered at Khardah police station in North 24 Parganas district on a complaint by the victim doctor’s father be handed over to the CBI SIT.
The court directed that if any accused is in custody in connection with the Khardah police station case, the SIT will consider whether further custody is required and make the necessary prayer before the jurisdictional court. It also said the investigating officer of Khardah police station must take no further steps in the case and immediately hand over all records to the SIT.
On September 24, while ordering the personal appearance of police officers, the court had said it wanted clarification on how the investigation had begun when the bench was already monitoring the CBI probe and the central agency was filing reports before it.
Noting the presence of the inspector-in-charge of Khardah police station and the investigating officer as directed earlier, the court said, “We are not satisfied with the explanation offered, and we caution them to be more careful in future.”
Earlier, on May 21, the court had ordered the setting up of a three-member CBI SIT, headed by its joint director, east, to investigate the developments from the time the trainee doctor had dinner on the night of the incident in August 2024 to her cremation.
The victim doctor’s parents had moved the court alleging that evidence was destroyed and attempts were made to downplay the incident in its immediate aftermath.
