The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday took over a probe into the alleged rape and murder of a 31-year-old woman doctor in Kolkata after the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of probe.
The CBI will also be sending a specialised medical and forensic team from Delhi to Kolkata. The team is scheduled to depart early on Wednesday morning.
Earlier in the day, the court asked the local police to hand over all the documents to the CBI immediately. It transferred the case, saying that there is every possibility that evidence will be destroyed.
“Under normal circumstances, the court would have given time, but the case at hand is a peculiar one…even after five days, there have been no significant conclusions which should have happened by now," the bench was quoted by Bar and Bench as saying on Tuesday.
"Therefore, we are justified that there is every possibility that evidence will be destroyed. We deem it appropriate that the case must be transferred to the CBI with immediate effect,” the court added.
The bench further directed the state counsel to transfer the case diary and other records to the CBI by 10 am on Wednesday, August 14. The court has also directed the CBI to file periodic reports.
"We direct the State, superintendent of hospital and doctors to file report and suggestions. After everything is put on record then we will decide what needs to be done. List the matter after three weeks. The first report shall be filed by the CBI on the next date of hearing," the court said in its order.
The woman doctor was found dead in the seminal hall of the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal, on Friday morning. She was allegedly raped and murdered. A civic volunteer was arrested in this connection on Saturday.
The parents of the postgraduate trainee doctor had moved the high court, seeking a court-monitored investigation into the case. A number of other PILs were also filed that sought a CBI probe into it.
Ordering a CBI probe into the case, the high court said on Tuesday, " The standing counsel for State contends that investigation has been done in appropriate manner...submitted that statements have been recorded by more than 25 persons and one person has been arrested."
"The parents of the victim contend that if state police is permitted to conduct the investigation then in all probability the investigation will be derailed and …they demand action against them," Bar and Bench reported while citing the order.
Observing that the protests over the rape-and-murder incident spread across different states, the court appealed to the protesters to call off their agitation "so that the public who come to hospital do not suffer".
It said, “We are truly appreciative of the feelings vented out by doctors and students and those in RG Kar Medical College. However, there is a pious obligation on the part of doctors to treat their patients more particularly as the patients who come to the government hospital are not from affluent strata of society.”
“Therefore we would appeal to the members of medical profession to discuss with senior officials of state govt and consider calling off their agitation so that public who come to hospital do not suffer,” the court was quoted as saying by Bar and Bench.
The high court also directed the professor (principal) of the college to "immediately proceed on leave, failing which we would be compelled to pass necessary orders".
A protester welcomed the court's order and said, "We are very happy and relieved that the case has been transferred to the CBI. The accused will be arrested soon now..."
