Kolkata, Jan 22 (IANS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday filed a petition at the Calcutta High Court seeking the death penalty for Sanjay Roy, the sole convict in the case of ghastly rape and murder of a junior woman doctor on the premises of state-run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata last year in August.

Sources aware of the development said that the CBI's special crime unit office in Kolkata has taken this step following an instruction from the central probe agency's headquarters in Delhi.

Notably, earlier on Wednesday morning, the CBI had opposed the petition by the West Bengal government in the Calcutta High Court challenging the verdict of a special court in Kolkata on January 20 sentencing Roy to life imprisonment. The state government in its plea sought the death penalty for the convict.

The CBI challenged the state government petition on grounds that it does not have any locus standi to make such an appeal.

The contention of the CBI counsel was that it is only CBI, as the sole investigation agency in the matter and the victim’s parents, who could move such a plea at a higher court, and not the state government, which is not a party in the case.

"Whether the state government’s petition on this count will be admissible or not will be heard in the Calcutta High Court on January 27," a source said.

To recall, after the body of the junior woman doctor was recovered from a seminar hall within the R.G. Kar premises on the morning of August 9, 2024, the initial investigation was carried out by the Kolkata Police.

It was the Kolkata Police which first arrested Roy. However, after five days of initial investigation by the city police, the charge of the probe into the matter was handed over to the CBI by the Calcutta High Court.