On August 22, a city court allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to give a polygraph test to the former principal and four doctors from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The victim had reportedly had dinner with them before being found dead the next morning.
The CBI is investigating an incident from August 9, where a 31-year-old trainee doctor was reportedly raped and killed at the hospital.
A CBI official said, “The CBI asked the Sealdah ACJM court for permission to give a polygraph test to the former principal, Dr. Sandip Ghosh, and four doctors from RG Kar Hospital. They were brought to court on Thursday, and the court agreed to the request.”
This happened after the Supreme Court, reviewing the case on its own, ordered the Sealdah court on Thursday to make a decision by 5 p.m. on Friday.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, justices JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra stated “The request for conducting a polygraph test has been submitted before the ACJM Sealdah. It is stated to be under process. The ACJM Sealdah shall pass orders on the application no later than 5pm on August 23.”
A polygraph test is not considered a “confession” and cannot be used as evidence in court. It’s done to help investigators gather clues from the suspect, but it isn’t scientifically proven to always be accurate.
The Supreme Court also asked the West Bengal government why there was a 14-hour delay in filing the First Information Report (FIR).
The federal agency had previously asked the Sealdah court for permission to give a polygraph test to Sanjay Roy, the main suspect in the case. Roy, a civic volunteer with the Kolkata police, was arrested the day after the rape and murder and was then handed over to the CBI.
The agency has already questioned Ghosh for over 75 hours since Friday. The CBI has also already questioned the four doctors.
“A 31-year-old trainee doctor last talked to her parents at about 11:15 pm on August 8. She told them she would have dinner soon and had ordered chicken bharta and roti. The victim and the four doctors had dinner around 12:30 am and watched Neeraj Chopra’s Olympic match. Later, she went to sleep in the seminar room at around 2:30 am on August 9,” said a doctor from RG Kar Hospital.
Investigations show that the incident happened between 4:00 am and 4:30 am on August 9. Her body was found in the seminar room on the third floor of the emergency building around 9:45 am that morning.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party held a protest rally in Salt Lake on Thursday. The police were stationed at Swasthya Bhavan, the state health department’s headquarters.
A fight broke out between the police and BJP workers, leading to the detention of senior leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari, the opposition leader in the state assembly, and BJP Rajya Sabha member Samik Bhattacharya.
