A shocking development has taken place in the horrifying RG Kar Hospital rape and murder case as the forensic report submitted by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) has found no evidence of struggle or resistance at the said crime scene where the 31-year-old deceased female victim was said to have been found. The report was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on September 11.
The body of the trainee doctor was found on August 9 inside the seminar hall of Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital, which evoked massive outrage and protests from doctors and common populace alike across the country with the Mamata Banerjee government facing mounting public pressure for its alleged mismanagement and tacit response in the initial days following the occurrence of the crime.
During the probe into the case, the CBI filed a charge sheet against prime accused Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer associated with the Kolkata Police.
Initially, it was reported that the junior doctor was murdered and assaulted in the seminar room itself. On 14th August, the Delhi-based experts of CFSL examined the premises of the hospital. They took evidence at the alleged spot of the incident, like a mattress on a wooden stage in the seminar hall – where the trainee doctor was initially reported to have — suffered unspeakable horror.
“The cut-mark portions observed on this mattress were reasonably corresponding to the head and lower abdomen area of an injured victim who stated or happens to be lying on this mattress.”
However, the report added, “The evidence of a possible struggle shown by the victim with the assailant or fight in between them was found missing in the shown area of occurrence, i.e., the wooden stage mattress and the adjoining area inside the seminar hall.” Further, no biological stains were detected on the wooden stage and elsewhere in the seminar room except on the mattress.
It has also pointed out the improbability of the accused making an entry unnoticed in that busy hospital atmosphere. As it has put it, “There is less possibility that someone (in the presence of the official attendees present in the 24×7 operational hospital corridor, doctor’s duty-nursing station area) could enter into the seminar hall unnoticed for committing offence.”
Nonetheless, the CFSL findings have raised apprehensions on initial assertion about the place of the occurrence of the crime. During the initial days of investigation, the family had often raised questions over the probe, stressing that the case is being “covered up”. Incidentally, several hours after the occurrence of the heinous crime, the Hospital administration and by extension the state administration, faced massive backlash for demolishing a wall of a room in front of the seminar hall, an act which attracted strong ire from the Calcutta High Court as well.
Slamming the West Bengal government and Hospital administration for their actions, the court questioned the “urgency” to renovate portions near the RG Kar Hospital’s seminar hall, which was initially considered the place of occurrence of the crime.
Even back then, the administration faced grave allegations of tampering with, destroying evidence and demolishing pristine places near the crime scene, which could be considered too close and even within the ambit of being a crime scene. If the apprehensions find a trace of reality, the unfortunate case may fall short in actual delivery of Justice, with the real developments around the criminal act left shrouded in mystery.