RG Kar case: 2 key accused get bail for no CBI chargesheet

Kolkata: In a dramatic twist in the case of rape and murder of a young doctor at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH), two key accused-- a senior doctor and a cop-- got bail from a city court on Friday after the CBI failed to chargesheet them within a stipulated time.

The two accused are Dr Sandip Ghosh and Abhijit Mondal. While Dr Ghosh was the principal of RGKMCH, Mr Mondal was the officer-in-charge of the Tala police station, under the jurisdiction of which the government hospital is located, when the gruesome crime took place on August 9.

On September 14, the special crime branch of the CBI arrested them on charges of destruction of evidence in the main case related to the crime but could not book them in a supplementary chargesheet which was supposed to be submitted during the stipulated 90-day period that ended on Friday.

When Dr Ghosh and Mr Mondal were produced from the jail custody before the additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) at the Sealdah Court, the CBI lawyer submitted during the hearing that the supplementary chargesheet has not been filed against them as the probe was yet to end.

The lawyers of the two accused then prayed for bail which was granted by the ACJM against a personal surety of ₹2000 for each. Dr Ghosh, who was first arrested by the anti corruption branch of the CBI for his alleged role in financial misappropriation at RGKMCH after the crime, will however get no relief.

He, unlike Mr Mondal, would remain in jail custody as he is yet to get bail in that case. The victim's parents expressed their shock at the CBI’s role. “We are sad. We can't imagine this. We have lost our faith in the CBI. We can't see any way out,” they said. The junior doctors also blamed the CBI.

One of them, Aniket Mahato, said in the evening, “The CBI has to take responsibility for its failure to charge the two accused. It acted like the Kolkata Police initially did.”