Kolkata, Aug 23 (IANS): In a crucial development in the R.G. Kar rape and murder case, a special court on Kolkata on Friday allowed the CBI to conduct polygraph test on Sanjay Roy, the main accused in the brutal rape and murder of a junior doctor on the hospital premises earlier this month.
The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate's (ACJM) court in Sealdah had on Thursday approved the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) plea to conduct the lie detector test on the controversial former principal of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Sandip Ghosh, and five others in connection with the case.
Of these total seven persons, one is a close associate of Roy, a civic volunteer, while the remaining four are post-graduate medical students of R.G. Kar who were on duty at the hospital on the intervening night of August 8-9.
Earlier in the day, a lower court in Kolkata remanded Roy to 14-days judicial custody.
On Monday, the CBI had approached the court seeking permission to conduct a polygraph test on Roy, a civic volunteer and the only person arrested in the case so far.
Sources said Roy's lie detector test became crucial since there have been a lot of inconsistencies in the statements made by him during his interrogation by the CBI.
Roy, a civic volunteer posted at the police outpost of the hospital, was arrested on the basis of CCTV footage and a bluetooth device found near the junior doctor's body. He was reportedly seen entering the seminar hall where the victim's body was found.
While the local media reported that Roy has admitted to the crime, many people are saying the rape and murder couldn’t have been the handiwork of a single person.
Roy, who was initially arrested by the Kolkata Police, was handed over to the CBI after the Calcutta High Court directed the central agency to take over the investigation from the city police.
The procedure for getting court permission for a polygraph test is not simple. The court gives its nod in such cases only after the persons on whom the test will be conducted give their consent for the same.
Also, it is primarily a method adopted by investigating agencies to reach the truth, and its findings cannot be presented as evidence in the court of law.