The Central Bureau of Investigation’s special court in Kolkata on Saturday pronounced Sanjay Roy, a former civic volunteer of Kolkata police, guilty of rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at a seminar room in the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital last year.
The court said the quantum of punishment would be delivered on Monday.
The verdict of the court came five months nine days after the crime was committed.
“The evidence, which was submitted by the CBI, has convinced the court. I am satisfied with the evidence. I find you guilty of the allegations against you. You will have to face the punishment for the crime,” said magistrate Dipankar Das.
The court also reminded Roy that the sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) under which he was booked and found guilty, prescribes death sentence as maximum punishment and life-term jail as minimum.
Roy was booked under the BNS sections 64, 66 and 103(1) which deals with the quantum of punishment for murder and rape.
During a 12-minute hearing on Wednesday, Roy claimed himself to be innocent saying he was framed.
“I was wearing a necklace and a chain made of Rudraksha beads. Had I committed the crime, the chain would have been broken and Rudrakshas would have been scattered on the floor of the room where the incident took place. But it was intact,” said Roy while defending himself in the court.
Replying to Roy's argument, the magistrate said the CBI’s evidence clearly indicated his involvement in the crime.
Roy was taken out of the court-room and policemen took him to Presidency Jail where he is lodged.
The victim's parents arrived at the court travelling in a local train from their North 24 Parganas residence. “We are thankful to the judiciary for the verdict. The court has honoured the trust we reposed on it,” said the victim’s father.
During the course of the in-camera trial, the CBI, which was handed over the charge of the probe by the Calcutta High Court on August 13 last year, produced biological, scientific and digital evidence along with the statements of more than 120 witnesses.
The incident became a national outcry and protests and rallies were taken out in different cities. Kolkata witnessed month-long protests against alleged negligence on the part of the administration forcing the state government to remove the Kolkata police commissioner and two other senior officials.
Crime scene
On August 9, the trainee doctor’s body was found on a wooden platform in the third-floor seminar room where she was sleeping after completing a 36-hour shift. The victim’s articles, including a water-bottle, cellphone and a laptop, were found lying beside her. Besides, there was a Bluetooth enabled earphone near the body which was the victim’s item.
A magistrate was brought for the inquest procedure and he wrote in his findings: “She was lying over a blue mattress. She was in half-naked condition. One jeans pant and a brown inner pant were lying near the left side of the body. I found a hair clip near the vagina and a broken spectacle near the body.
The inquest report mentioned about 10 observations suggesting brutal assault on the victim. It includes, bleeding from both eyes, bleeding from mouth, bleeding from vagina, injury over the face and nail, injuries on hands and nails and injury on abdomen.
Investigation
Kolkata police started examining the CCTV footage of the hospital building and zeroed in on one person wearing shorts and sleeveless T-shirt who was seen walking along the corridor on the third-floor, which leads to the seminar room, with a Bluetooth enabled earphone hanging on his shoulder around 4 am. The same person was seen coming out but this time the earphone was not seen on his shoulder.
One of the policemen of the hospital outpost identified the person as Roy, a civic volunteer who used to frequent the hospital. He gave us Roy’s cell phone number and the location of the tower, from which the handset was receiving signal, showed he was in the police barrack in Salt Lake. The homicide wing of the Kolkata police picked him up.
When the investigators asked where his earphone was, Roy said he lost it. The sleuths then switched on the Bluetooth option of his cellphone and found it was paired with the earphone recovered from the seminar room. It was enough to realise Roy was the man they were looking for. He was arrested.
Evidence and charge sheet
The CBI submitted a chargesheet on October 7 identifying Roy as the “sole” culprit who committed the crime. The central agency submitted evidence, including DNA samples collected from the victim’s body and blood stains on Roy’s cloth which matched. Swabs collected from Roy and the victim’s body also matched. Charges were framed against Roy on November 4 and an in-camera day to day trial started from November 11. The victim’s father was the first witness to be present on the first day of the trial.
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