A special court on Sunday granted three-day custody of former R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital principal Sandip Ghosh and ex-station house officer (SHO) of Tala Police Station, Abhijit Mondal, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The duo were arrested in connection with the ghastly rape and murder of a junior doctor last month.
The court accepted the submission of CBI counsel by stating that as Mondal did not have a "direct role" in the rape and murder case, he had been accused of tampering with evidence and delaying the initial probe process while Kolkata Police were handling the rape-murder case.
The central probe agency was handed over on the orders of the Calcutta High Court. Speaking to The Indian Express on Sunday, CBI counsel said the investigating officers got definite clues about the telephonic conversation between Ghosh and Mondal on the morning of August 9 when the body of the junior doctor was recovered from the seminar hall located on the premises of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital.
The counsel further argued that the subject matter of discussion between Ghosh and Mondal on that very morning calls for a deep investigation and hence they need to be taken in custody for further questioning in the matter.
The CBI counsel also underlined several instances of laxity investigation by the Kolkata Police while they were dealing with the initial phase of the probe.
According to him, the death was initially described as a suicide to the victim's parents. Besides, the process of the seizure of items as exhibits in the case started late.
Finally, the special court judge accepted the arguments of the CBI counsel and remanded Ghosh and Mondal to CBI custody for three days.
Mondal was taken into custody by the CBI on Saturday night, seven hours after he was questioned. Ghosh, who has been in judicial custody behind bars ever since his arrest by the CBI on charges of financial irregularities at the institution, was reflected as "arrested" on Saturday night in the rape and murder case.
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