RG Kar Case: Ex-Panihati civic chief sent to 2-day CBI custody

Kolkata: A court in Kolkata on Wednesday, October 28, remanded former chairman of Panihati Municipality, Somnath Dey, to two days of CBI custody in connection with alleged tampering of evidence in the RG Kar rape-murder case, a senior official of the central agency said.

The Sealdah Court granted the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) plea for his custody for further questioning, he said.

“Dey’s custodial interrogation was necessary to investigate the alleged tampering with evidence and to establish the sequence of events surrounding the crime,” the CBI official said.

The agency is also probing allegations of evidence manipulation and the hurried cremation of the victim’s body, he said.

During the court proceedings, advocate Amartya Dey, representing the victim’s family, opposed the former municipal chairman’s bail plea, alleging that he had approached the lower court without disclosing that his bail application was pending before the Calcutta High Court.

A CBI source said the lawyer questioned how Dey could seek bail before the Sealdah Court while his plea was pending before the higher court.

The CBI is investigating the rape-murder case.

The central agency had also questioned former principal of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, Sandip Ghosh, and Abhijit Mondal, the then officer-in-charge of Tala police station, in connection with the case.

Dey came under the agency’s scanner during the investigation over allegations of evidence tampering and the hurried cremation of the victim’s body.

“Our officers will question him further during his two-day custody,” he said.

A 31-year-old junior doctor was raped and murdered at the state-run hospital in Kolkata on August 9, 2024, triggering national outrage.

A sessions court in the city convicted a Kolkata Police civic volunteer, the prime accused in the incident, of life imprisonment.

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