Kolkata rape-murder case: ‘Broken door bolt’ of seminar hall under CBI scrutiny

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting rigorous investigation into the rape and murder of a woman doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. According to PTI, the agency is also scrutinising a “broken bolt” on the seminar hall’s door where the crime occurred.

The 31-year-old trainee doctor was found dead in the early hours of August 9, while she was sleeping during her 36-hour-long shift, at 4 am in the hospital’s seminar hall. She was raped and murdered, allegedly by a civic volunteer named Sanjay Roy.

The central investigative agency is focusing on the crime scene to understand how the offence was carried out “without any interruption” in the seminar hall of the state-run hospital.

Preliminary findings suggest that the door had malfunctioned for a while due to the broken bolt. The victim entered the hall between 2 am and 3 am on August 9. An officer, quoted by PTI, said that a doctor on duty saw her asleep inside the hall.

“Interviews with doctors, interns, and junior doctors revealed that the door’s malfunction had been a known issue, which prevented the victim from locking the door that night,” the official said.

CBI doubts ‘if someone was stationed outside’

The CBI is also investigating whether anyone was stationed outside the seminar hall to ensure the crime occurred without disturbance. They are reviewing CCTV footage to verify this.

The officials are puzzled as to “why no one heard any noise from inside the seminar hall while the victim was being assaulted.”

“The tower bolt was broken, which caused the door to malfunction. We are probing whether anyone was stationed outside to act as a guard while the crime was committed,” a CBI officer told PTI.

As a part of the investigation, the CBI will conduct polygraph tests on four employees from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, including three junior doctors, to determine their involvement in the rape and murder of a trainee doctor.

The authorities have also obtained permission to administer a lie-detector test on Sandip Ghosh, the principal of RG Kar Medical College, who resigned two days after the incident.

The Supreme Court has criticised Sandip Ghosh and the West Bengal police for a “14-hour delay” in filing the murder FIR. The court also noted that Ghosh attempted to categorise the murder as a suicide.