Cops Vs Cops: A Courtroom Showdown of CBI and CP
In a rare courtroom battle, the CBI takes on Calcutta Police, accusing Tala Police Station of fabricating evidence in the Tilottama murder case. Allegations of document falsification, tampered investigation, and rapid post-mortem procedures surface as the investigation deepens. A case of Cops vs Cops.
September 26, 2024: Cops taking on cops! And both of them are extremely serious and in quite a belligerent mood. A rare spectacle indeed! Isn’t it?
Yes, this is what is exactly happening in one of the courts in the City of Joy. It is not joyful though for the city cops, particularly for some of them who have been finding it quite hard to deflect the volley of allegations and legal barbs being delivered at them by another division of their ilk.
The barbs and allegations have compelled the senior colleagues of the city cop to go into a huddle to devise ways and means to ‘protect’ themselves, in case the ripple-off effects happen to land at their court later. The scenario is not very far though!
Jokes apart, the scene is the courtroom of the Special CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) Court at Sealdah in central Calcutta where the central agency has levelled serious charges against the authorities of Tala Police Station under the aegis of Calcutta Police (CP) in the ongoing investigation into the rape and murder of the 31-year-old junior doctor Tilottama at the state-run R K Kar Medical College and Hospital.
For the first time, perhaps in the history of Calcutta Police, that the CBI charged the Tala Police Station authorities with preparing ‘fake and fabricated documents’ right inside the station as part of diversionary tactics to reverse and alter the `focus of investigation’ into the murder. And the arrested the officer-in-charge of the station Mr Abhijit Mandol was alleged to have been the prima facie suspect behind the entire operation.
Terming it as the `rarest of the rare incidents’ in recent times, the CBI, through its counsel, mentioned in No. 4 schedule of the series of documents submitted at the court that Mr Mandol resorted to drafting “false record” which had been ‘created or altered’ to debunk the seriousness of the rape and murder. The aim was allegedly to nullify the question of a larger conspiracy being touted by the victim’s parents and others. (Read Opposition parties and the Citizens’ forum in West Bengal).
According to the CBI, the sleuths had succeeded in culling this information after interrogating quite a number of the accused including the suspended hospital principal Dr Sandip Ghosh and Mr Mondal and circumstantial evidence.
The DVR and hard disk of the police station seized by the CBI which had already been dispatched to Hyderabad for detailed forensic examination, are likely to yield more information, the CBI counsel claimed. The report of the forensic examination will be arriving soon, he added.
What could be really worse for both Ghosh and Mandal is the latest prayer by the CBI for their thorough Narco Analysis and Polygraph tests; the hearing of the prayer has been deferred for the time being. But the CBI is hoping that the prayer would be granted by the special judge of the court.
What is a Narco Analysis? Narco-analysis has become one of the most popular techniques of crime detection in India. The hypnotic drugs used during the test, lower inhibitions and increase suggestibility. This state of altered consciousness allows the person or persons under test, to recall repressed memories, details of past events, or information that he/she/they may be unwilling or unable to disclose under normal circumstances. Interestingly, the person remains conscious and is able to communicate during the procedure but is in a highly relaxed and suggestible state.
The counsels for both Ghosh and Mandol vehemently argued against the CBI for not following the proper procedures for arrest and detention. The Special Judge overruled all objections even as a large number of lawyers resorted to massive demonstration in the court and condemned those counsels for taking up cudgels to defend the duo, the alleged perpetrators of the ghastly crime.
The resultant melee compelled the CBI counsel to plead for an in-camera session which was rejected by the judge.
Meanwhile, the CBI sleuths have stumbled on a number of glaring inconsistencies in the version of an employee of the hospital’s morgue and that of Dr Apurba Biswas who conducted the post-mortem of the victim and wrote the report subsequently. The statement of the employee who was present throughout the post-mortem and that of the doctor given to the CBI and the latter’s report revealed serious inconsistencies and incongruities.
The sleuths who have been quizzing Dr Biswas since Friday last, have summoned him again today (26.09.2024). According to reliable sources, the CBI is likely to interrogate him in front of an expert in the profession (post mortem) because it was common knowledge that the victim’s post mortem had been conducted in a tearing hurry( the allegation is in less than an hour).
The parents of the victim were simply bundled into a police van thereafter and taken to the cremation site. The body was allegedly pushed into the crematorium at a break-neck speed before even the parents could have a proper look and feel of their only daughter as a huge cordon of cops guarded the burning ghat. The parents’ demand for a second post-mortem was simply turned down.
Shockingly, not a single soul was allowed to have the last glimpse of the doctor. The parents were not even permitted to sign the papers required as per rule; instead a powerful political leader oversaw the entire operation and instructed one of his associates to sign on their behalf. The Hurry was palpable and the attendant Envelop of Secrecy was ensured completely!!!
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