Sanjay Roy, the accused in the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor in a government-run hospital in Kolkata, appears to be a “sexual pervert” who has shown no remorse during his questioning, according to sources in the Central Bureau of India (CBI), which is probing the incident that has grabbed the nation’s attention and sparked massive outrage.
CBI, which took over the investigation from the city police after a Calcutta High Court order on August 13, has subjected Roy to psychometric tests, which can be loosely termed a form of personality evaluation to identify a person’s cognitive functions.
Roy, a 33-year-old civic volunteer who had easy access to the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, confessed to the gut-wrenching crime and narrated the sequence of events without a hint of emotion during his psychometric tests, according to the sources cited above. Experts conducting the tests felt he was a “sexual pervert” with “animal’like instincts”, they added.
The post-mortem report of the 31-year-old doctor said her death was primarily due to “manual strangulation associated with smothering”. It said that the doctor had abrasions on her cheeks, lips, nose, neck, arms and knees — and the “evidence of forceful penetration/insertion in her genitalia”. Her family and a section of experts have told the media that they suspect the involvement of multiple people, though investigators have yet to comment on this.
A Kolkata Police team took Roy into custody on August 10, a day after the body of the trainee doctor was found in a seminar hall on the fourth floor of the hospital. During the preliminary police probe, porn was found in his phone. There have been also been reports that he visited two brothels on the night of August 8, hours before the crime. Meanwhile, questions have been asked as to how he had easy access inside RG Kar and how he could roam around introducing himself as a police official despite being a civic volunteer — a member of an informal state-wide unit created by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) that helps police in traffic management and crowd management during events.
News18 has earlier reported that even though CBI has received a preliminary permission from a Sealdah district court to conduct a polygraph test on Roy, the process has been delayed because no lawyer is ready to represent him.
A legal aid counsel has now been assigned to brief Roy about the physical and psychological aspects of the test. CBI can go ahead with the test once Roy gives his consent. Legal aid counsels are appointed for the accused who cannot afford a lawyer or when circumstances are unusual.
CBI is also wary of public anger against Roy when he is taken to court. The central agency insists that he cannot be produced in the district court in person. CBI could move the Calcutta High Court for permission for virtual hearing of the polygraph issue. Roy’s consent needs to be recorded in front a magistrate before the polygraph test could begin.
While psychometric tests assess the behavioural traits of a person, a polygraph test, also known as a lie detector test, is a scientific method used to measure a person’s physiological responses (heartbeat, changes in breathing, sweating, blood pressure) to the questions asked.
The Kolkata case has shaken the country, brought the functioning of RG Kar hospital under scrutiny, led to the ouster of its principal, and triggered massive protests by the medical fraternity’s students and civil society. The Supreme Court has asked for a status report from CBI on August 22.
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