RG Kar case: CBI finds more procedural lapses in autopsy report

Some more major procedural lapses in the post-mortem of the victim's body in the R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital rape and murder case have come to the notice of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials.

Sources said that of the eight bodies whose autopsies were done at the morgue of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital on August 9, only the one -- that of the woman doctor -- was done after sunset, which is normally against the protocol.

The body of the victim was recovered from the seminar hall within the R.G. Kar complex on the morning of August 9.

Secondly, sources added, the post-mortem was completed just within 70 minutes, which the investigating officials feel was an unusually short period considering the seriousness of the matter.

These two factors, sources said, have created doubts on whether the completion of the autopsy within such a short period and that too after sunset was done deliberately so that the body can be cremated at the earliest to close all doors for a second autopsy.

The victim’s parents claimed that they wanted to get the body of their daughter preserved at least for a day, but their plea was ignored by the administration. The amateurish language used in the post-mortem report has added to the doubts. The sources said a normal autopsy report mentions and describes the state in technical terms and proper medical terms are used but the one in the doctor's case lacked in all aspects.

The third point, that is baffling the investigating officials, is the lack of adequate light in the morgue while the post-mortem was being conducted, which to an extent affected the videography of the autopsy process. Sources said that the investigating officials also have serious doubts about the quality of the videography of the process and they doubt it was in an extremely lackadaisical manner unusual in such cases.

The final point of doubt, sources said, is from the complaint of the victim’s parents that their plea for allowing at least one family member of a family acquaintance to be in the morgue during the autopsy was also ignored by the authorities.

Earlier this month, the office of Governor C.V. Ananda Bose raised some questions on the nature of the initial investigation carried out by Kolkata Police before the matter was handed over to CBI, one of which was the “hurried disposal of the body ignoring the wishes of the parents to retain it at least that day”.