R G Kar rape-murder: Mamata says 'not satisfied' with life imprisonment given to convict Sanjay Roy

PTI, Calcutta, 20 January 2025 :  Expressing dissatisfaction over the court giving life imprisonment to the convict in the RG Kar hospital rape-murder case, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday claimed the probe was "forcibly" taken away from the Kolkata Police, and asserted that had it been with them, they would have ensured a death penalty. 

Speaking to reporters in Murshidabad district, Banerjee questioned the CBI investigation in the case. "All of us had demanded a death sentence, but the court has given a life term until death. The case was forcibly taken from us. Had it been with the (Kolkata) police, we would have ensured that he was served a death sentence," she claimed.

"We don’t know how the probe was conducted. In many similar cases that were probed by the state police, death penalty was ensured. I am not satisfied," she said. The Sealdah court sentenced Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment until death after he was convicted of the rape and murder of the on-duty doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Anirban Das in Sealdah had on Saturday found Roy guilty of the crime committed against the postgraduate trainee doctor at the hospital on August 9 last year, which sparked unprecedented and prolonged nationwide protests. Judge Das said the crime did not fall under the "rarest of the rare" category, for not imposing the death penalty on the convict.