Sarita Toshniwal’s brother Sushil in Guwahati on Monday. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati, Oct. 6: The family of Sarita Toshniwal, a junior doctor who was found murdered in Assam Medical College Hospital (AMCH) in Dibrugarh on May 9, has alleged lapses by the CID and the state forensic science laboratory (FSL) in the investigations.

Addressing a news conference here today, Sarita’s brother Sushil Toshniwal said they were highly dissatisfied with the manner in which the investigation was conducted by the CID and the FSL as there were many loopholes and lapses. Sarita, a first-year post-graduate student of the AMCH, was found dead in the doctor’s cabin of the intensive care unit of the hospital’s gynaecology department with a knife stuck in the left side of her neck.

Police have arrested Dipmoni Saikia, a second-year post-graduate student in the gynaecology department of the hospital, and Kiru Mech, a ward boy of the department, for their alleged involvement in the murder.

The case was handed over to the CID after preliminary investigation by Dibrugarh police. The victim’s family is now apprehensive that due to lapses in the investigation, the accused duo may go unpunished. Toshniwal demanded that the investigating officer of the CID, Ranjit Singh, be removed from the case as they have serious doubts over his role.

“When we had met him to enquire about the progress of the investigation, Singh told us that he had to spend money from his own pocket to travel to Dibrugarh along with this team to investigate the case and he was not sure when he would get reimbursement. He also told us that it is not possible for him to conduct the investigation like this. After speaking to him, we got the impression that he is unwilling to take the investigation to its logical conclusion.”

Toshniwal said the murder is believed to have taken place between 5am and 7am on May 9, but the police collected CCTV footage in the evening between 5pm and 7pm. It was irrelevant for the investigation, he added,

He said samples collected from Sarita’s nail scrub and a strand of hair were sent for DNA tests to the FSL, but the test remained inconclusive.

“We doubt that either the samples were not collected properly or the tests were not carried out properly,” said Gaurav Somani, a family friend of the Toshniwals.

Somani said there was also delay in submission of the report of the examination of the laptop of Dipmoni Saikia and other digital evidences by the FSL. “Mukul Kuli, the in-charge of the cyber crime/digital forensic unit of the FSL, is suffering from brain tumour for the last two years. In his absence, the works of the unit are being done by a third-grade and a fourth-grade employees who are unqualified for the job,” he said.

Toshniwal demanded that the evidence be sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Delhi for re-examination and the case be tried in a fast-track court. Sarita’s mother Krishna Devi said she wants justice done and the culprits not be allowed to go scot-free due to lapses in investigation.