Kolkata Police Clarifies After Video Shows Crowd At Hospital Crime Scene

A video of the seminar hall of the Kolkata hospital hours after the discovery of the August 9 rape-murder, has raised questions about the procedures followed by the Kolkata Police when it comes to crime scene preservation. The video, which is being widely circulated online, appears to give credence to CBI claims that the crime scene has been contaminated.  After daylong speculation, the police responded, saying they had cordoned off the relevant portion of the hall. The police have also assured that proper procedures were followed to preserve evidence and ensure a thorough investigation.

The video, which is not verified by NDTV, apparently shows a portion of the seminar hall where the partially clothed body of the young doctor was found hours before. But instead of being an empty, cordoned-off zone, it was teeming with people. 

Reports said several people close to then Principal Sandip Ghosh, including his lawyer, were also seen in the 43-second clip from August 9. Intermingled with the crowd were police personnel.

In the evening, a police spokesperson said, "A video has gone viral showing the place of occurrence. This is a clarification. The body found in the seminar hall was in one portion of the seminar hall. 40 feet of the room was cordoned off. The video is outside the cordoned off area where family members, doctors and the police were present". 
Police officers said the entire seminar hall is 51 feet x 32 feet, of which 40 feet x 11 feet was cordoned off. Only the 11-feet portion is shown in the viral video.

"Authorised persons, including 10 forensic teams and those who removed the body, were present at the spot," sources said.

The BJP's state General Secretary Jagannath Chattopadhyay told reporters that the presence of so many people at the scene of crime can easily compromise evidence. He also alleged that this could have been done deliberately. 

"There is a high possibility of tampering with evidence. Those who are responsible for tampering and for the loss of evidence are equally guilty and they should be arrested immediately," he was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.

The video has surfaced more than a week after the investigation of the case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation following an order by the Calcutta High Court. The central agency, after its initial investigation, had told the Supreme Court that by the time they took over the case, "everything was altered".

The court too, found anomalies in the timeline recorded by the Kolkata Police, raising serious questions about the handling of the case.

On August 9, the second-year postgrad doctor had gone to an empty seminar room alone after a 36-hour shift to get some rest, as the hospital has no on-call room. Her partially clothed body, bearing multiple injuries, was found there in the morning. 

The prime suspect is Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer with Kolkata Police who was stationed at the police outpost at the hospital and had access to all departments. He has been arrested and has undergone a polygraph test.