How porn-addict ‘cop’ was nabbed for Kolkata doctor’s rape, murder

“A colleague was raped and murdered at a place which has grown to be my second home,” a third-year postgraduate trainee (PGT) doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata tells TOI. “The bone-chilling incident has left me shattered. I feel unsafe. I shudder to imagine what she must have felt. It could have been any of us — me or any other female resident or a junior doctor on night shift. The wards do get a little deserted. Imagine someone walking into a ward at night and brutalising a woman doctor?”The horrific rape and murder of a 31-year-old PGT doctor in Kolkata on August 8 has led to not only waves of protests at RG Kar Hospital, where the sexual assault and murder took place, but also in hospitals across the state and country. Resident doctors from multiple hospitals in New Delhi, including centrally-run facilities AIIMS, RML Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital, have begun an indefinite strike, suspending all elective services in response to the rape and murder.According to the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (Forda), during the indefinite strike, while all outpatient departments (OPDs), operation theatres (OTs) and ward duties will be shut, emergency services will continue to operate as usual, ensuring that urgent patient care remains unaffected. The medical fraternity wants speedy justice for the victim’s family.The main accusedOn August 10, Sanjay Roy was arrested for the crime after a CCTV camera on the hospital premises captured him entering the emergency building around 4am on Friday. The Kolkata Police civic volunteer was held barely six hours after the force set up a seven-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case.Chillingly, Roy had on multiple occasions been posted at the hospital’s police outpost, sometimes for long stretches, and therefore had easy access to every department of the compound. What gave him away? A torn bluetooth earphone that was found in the seminar room on the third floor of the emergency building where the young doctor’s body was found. medium nocaptionhttps://youtu.be/iAxR7A5PT_A?si=ZQ29wEFCMLq_BjNsHow it unfoldedThe investigation reveals that the doctor was asleep when Roy attacked her. She and her two juniors had ordered food post-midnight and at least five doctors had dinner together while watching Neeraj Chopra win the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. Post the meal, while her colleagues left, she decided to study and rest for a while. Sources say that she was spotted sleeping in the room till at least 3am.The police add that Roy first entered the hospital premises around 11pm. He was intoxicated. He then left the hospital complex soon after and reportedly drank some more. Around 4am, he was seen entering the emergency building on CCTV and exiting 40 minutes later.The victim — even though she was half-asleep — had desperately tried to fight back, and it was this fight that gave investigators the proof they needed, a senior cop says. “She had tried to resist and this caused deep injury marks and scratches on the hands of the accused. The scratch injuries on Roy’s body matched the skin and blood samples collected from the fingernails of the victim,” he tells TOI.The postmortem report states that the death was due to smothering and throttling. There were also abrasion marks and bruises on the victim’s face, starting on her eye and extending down to her neck. The report mentions that the accused “got a certain advantage as the victim was in deep sleep at the time of the attack”.While CCTV footage shows five others had accessed the area around the seminar hall on the third floor, only Roy could not explain his presence. It was during the interrogation that he confessed to the crime and admitted throttling the doctor because she put up a struggle. medium nocaptionhttps://youtu.be/uligYl7SPYw?si=X9XFaOZYQ5uu69n9How he was nabbedIn the CCTV footage, Roy was seen with a bluetooth device round his neck, but when he exited the building, the earphone was missing. The investigative authorities tracked Roy by pairing the missing earphone retrieved from the seminar hall with his phone. The postmortem report also confirmed sexual assault on the doctor.The report states that there were multiple signs of injuries and struggle on the body. There were bloodstains on the face, eyes and face, scratch marks on various parts of the body, and bleeding from the private parts. There were also injuries on the lips, abdomen, right hand and fingers while a collarbone was broken.Police commissioner Vineet Goyal told mediapersons that the investigating officers worked through the night and were able to arrest the accused after assessing the CCTV footage and connecting the missing earphone with the phone. Roy was soon after produced at Sealdah court, however, no lawyer agreed to represent him. The court has now sent him to 14 days’ police custody after the public prosecutor compared the with the 2012 Nirbhaya case. medium nocaptionhttps://youtu.be/4MZWrlc-JSs?si=xL7o8Foj2k4CDyyfWho is Sanjay Roy?Roy was appointed a civic volunteer in the Kolkata Police in 2019. Police say he is a known rogue figure and has been a nuisance for his family, the force and even his neighbours.“I have been in trouble ever since I gave birth to my son,” Malati Roy told reporters, as she stood at the entrance of her house located on Sambhu Nath Pandit Street in south Kolkata on August 10. However, she insisted: “My son cannot commit such an act…it’s so difficult to believe.”Roy, claims his mother Malati and neighbours, had last visited his family members on Holi. She claimed that Sanjay hardly ever called up to know how she or his sisters were doing. “I lived with my four daughters, one son and husband. My son got duly married but my daughter-in-law died of cancer. He hasn’t even come home for a long time. My daughters take care of my expenses,” added Malati.On August 10, as news of the arrest broke, a group of young men was seen gathered around Roy’s home. Asked about him, his immediate neighbour was quick to reply: “We don’t have much contact.”According to his neighbours, Malati’s words of pain regarding her son stem from the fact that he had already married at least four times. “He had divorced thrice while one wife reportedly died of cancer. Sanjay has four sisters, one of whom has died. He rarely kept any contact with them,” said a neighbour.“Sanjay was a menace whenever he stayed at Sambhu Nath Pandit Street, especially when drunk. He would kick neighbours’ doors and swear at us at night. We want him to be handed the severest punishment at the earliest,” says Kamala Das, a neighbour. medium nocaptionhttps://youtu.be/Ge2arQsos30?si=9FNq__bVk-inIyPHWas he a cop?According to police sources, Roy joined Kolkata Police’s disaster management group as a volunteer in 2019 but later shifted to the police welfare cell. He then moved to the police outpost at RG Kar Hospital, where reports suggest he was part of a racket that charged patients’ relatives for ensuring admission. He would also charge patients’ relatives for finding a bed at nearby nursing homes if they did not get a bed at the government hospital.Despite not being part of the police, Roy would use his contacts to stay at the police barracks at times. He also roamed around in a T-shirt with KP (Kolkata Police) written on it. His bike too had a KP tag. He also liked to introduce himself as a Kolkata Police personnel.Moreover, initial investigations reveal that the accused might have been addicted to pornography. Police found that his mobile was filled with objectionable videos and photos. He had also been often pulled up for being disrespectful towards female colleagues.According to reports in local media, Roy admitted to the crime soon after police started questioning him. The reports say he showed no remorse and even said: “Hang me if you want.” medium nocaptionhttps://youtu.be/sdRXtSELC_s?si=ZttkEES7s8CvUeNlWhat now?The SIT is set to meet the three-member forensic team that conducted the postmortem with some specific queries. The SIT reportedly wants to find out — based on the evidence collected — whether the injuries on the victim’s body could have been caused by Roy alone, or whether he had been working with an accomplice.This question is also troubling the victim’s friends and family. “We had asked the (additional) police commissioner on whether there was someone else. We have been told that police are investigating that aspect as well,” the victim’s father told reporters after meeting the police officer at their home. “We suspect an insider’s role,” he added.On August 12, facing backlash over the rape and murder, the principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Dr Sandip Ghosh, resigned from his post. He alleged that he was being defamed on social media and that the victim was like his daughter. He said he resigned “as a parent”.Meanwhile, the Kolkata Police have summoned three junior doctors and one housekeeping staff for the investigation. They were on duty on the night the woman was killed inside the hospital.