Three IPS officers, including former Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, appeared before the CBI on Friday in connection with its fresh probe into the rape and murder of the junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in 2024.

Goyal and fellow IPS officers Abhishek Gupta and Indira Mukherjee, who were suspended by the BJP government last month over their alleged handling of the case, were questioned by a three-member special investigation team constituted by the CBI on the order of Calcutta High Court.

The high court had directed the agency to re-examine the sequence of events between August 8 and 9, 2024 — from the time the doctor had dinner until her cremation the following evening.

CBI sources said the three officers were not formally summoned. “They were asked to come to the CBI office at different times on Friday. They did,” a source said.

A senior officer described the exercise as routine. “We just wanted to speak to them to get an idea of their possible role in the entire incident,” the officer said.

Sources said the three were asked about their whereabouts on the day of the crime and whether they had any role in handling the case.

A CBI officer, who did not wish to be named, said the three were also questioned on specific allegations levelled against them, most of which were raised by the slain doctor’s parents in their plea seeking a fresh investigation.

Goyal, an officer of director-general rank, was Calcutta’s police commissioner at the time of the crime and has been accused of mishandling the case.

Gupta, then deputy commissioner (north), has been accused of offering a bribe to the doctor’s family.

Mukherjee, who was deputy commissioner (central), has been accused of briefing reporters beyond her jurisdiction and displaying a “wrong attitude” during media interactions.

All three have been served articles of charge detailing the allegations against them.

Senior Kolkata Police officers, including Goyal and Gupta, had visited the hospital after the crime was reported. Mukherjee was on leave that day, sources said.

Kolkata Police arrested civic volunteer Sanjay Roy on the day of the crime.

The case was transferred to the CBI two days later. The agency subsequently filed a chargesheet naming Roy as the sole accused. Following a fast-track trial, a Sealdah court convicted Roy and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

The CBI had earlier questioned several police officers associated with the investigation and arrested the then officer-in-charge of Tala police station.

In nearly two years, the agency had not felt the need to examine the three IPS officers in the case.