CBI: Charges against ex-RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh ‘grave’, could lead to capital punishment: CBI court | Kolkata News

KOLKATA: The charges against former RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh and former Tala police station officer-in-charge Abhijit Mandal were “grave” and, if proven, could lead to “capital punishment”, a CBI court hearing the RG Kar rape-and-murder case said on Wednesday.
Magistrate Shibasis Dey, in his written order that could be accessed on Thursday, said the CBI “investigation was on in full swing” and kept both Ghosh and Mandal in custody till next Monday.
“The nature and gravity of the accusation is grave and, if proved, there might be a capital punishment, which is only given in rarest of rare cases,” the magistrate said, adding that granting bail in such a case would be flouting the principles of equity.
A person could commit an offence without directly being present at the scene of crime, the magistrate added in an important observation, noting the CBI’s argument of “collective participation” in the crime.
Ghosh’s lawyer, Zohaib Rauf, claimed he had been falsely implicated in the rape-and-murder case. Mandal’s lawyer, Ayan Bhattacharya, argued that the CBI had violated various provisions of law while arresting him and the allegations against him could merit bail.
The CBI, which is probing the larger conspiracy of destruction of evidence in the rape and murder of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital junior doctor, has come across several apparent irreguralities in the post mortem process. The agency has questioned Apurba Biswas, head of the three-doctor panel that conducted the post-mortem investigation, four times.