The high court on Thursday granted the CBI permission to re-examine convicted rapist and murderer Sanjay Roy and other witnesses connected to the brutal killing of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August 2024.
The order by a division bench headed by Justice Rajasekhar Mantha followed an appeal by the central agency seeking a higher punishment for Roy, the lone convict in the case. Roy had been sentenced to life imprisonment. The CBI also sought permission to interrogate any “respectable person” linked to the case.
The slain doctor’s parents have maintained from the beginning that Roy could not have committed the crime alone.
The order came on a day when the doctor’s mother filed her nomination as a BJP candidate from the Panihati Assembly constituency in North 24-Parganas.
The division bench fixed May 12 as the next hearing date and, through an interim order, allowed the CBI to question any individual in connection with the case.
Earlier, the appeal was pending before a division headed by Justice Debangshu Basak. In March, Basak’s bench released the matter and referred it to the chief justice for reassignment. Chief Justice Sujoy Paul then tasked the division bench led by Justice Mantha with hearing the appeal.
“The division bench said that there was a possibility that Sanjay Roy, the lone convict, knew a lot more in the case, and hence, if needed, he and others can be examined by the CBI. The bench also said that the central agency should not hesitate to expand the probe by questioning others,” said a lawyer associated with the case.
The 31-year-old postgraduate trainee was found murdered in a seminar hall in the emergency building of RG Kar in August 2024.
Alongside several other appeals, the doctor’s parents had sought permission to visit the crime scene, which the state had opposed. On Thursday, the division bench questioned the state’s objection. A lawyer said that the bench also mentioned that the forensic report should be analysed “deeper”.
Both the CBI and the state had appealed to upgrade Roy’s life sentence to the death penalty. The court allowed the CBI to proceed with its appeal and began hearing the case.