The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a fresh report in the Kolkata rape-murder case after the central probe agency raised suspicion over the forensic report in the case.
SG Tushar Mehta appearing for the CBI said that they are planning to send the samples for fresh examination to AIIMS Delhi and other CFSLs. SG Mehta said that "who took the samples" has emerged as a relevant question.
"We have a forensic examination report and one thing is admitted that when the girl was found at 9:30 AM, her jeans and undergarments were removed and lying nearby... semi-nude and injury marks were also found on the body...they have taken samples. They were sent to CFSL in West Bengal. Look at the results...the CBI has taken a decision to send the sample to AIIMS and some other lab," SG Mehta said.
Without disclosing much about the investigation, the CBI flagged the findings of the Central Forensic Science Lab (CFSL) report in Kolkata.
"We have seen the further line of investigation, we do not want to comment upon it in open court. We would like a status report...we will take it up on Tuesday, let the CBI proceed on the basis of what they are exploring, their leads," CJI Chandrachud said.
Supreme Court Seeks 'Missing' Autopsy Challan
While hearing further arguments, a counsel told the court that post mortem could not have taken place after 6PM. He questioned the timing of the post mortem report and said that the same could not be conducted without a challan. He also raised questions on the doctors who carried out the post mortem and claimed they belong to some lobby.
SG Mehta also said that the Post Mortem report does not mention at what time the post mortem was conducted. And the CBI was not given the challan in the case file.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for West Bengal said that the judicial magistrate witnessed all this and the court should call him. He also sought time to place the challan on record.
CJI Chandrachud asked if the PMR was done without the filling of the form.
Justice Pardiwala also pointed out that the constable is supposed to carry this challan. But in PMR there is no reference of the challan used.
Justice JB Pardiwala, pointed to the post-mortem report, "see the third column on the top, the constable (who brought the body) is supposed to carry this (form). It has been struck off. So there is no reference of this challan when the dead body is sent for examination. You need to explain, if this document is missing, then something is amiss," he said.
"You need to explain, tomorrow if this document is missing, you will have to explain why this happened." Justice Pardiwala said.
The Chief Justice then said that the CBI should also ask for this document from the Bengal government.
The counsel who raised the issue, said that this document was submitted during the hearing in Calcutta High Court. The Solicitor General of India then questioned, "In the absence of mention in the post-mortem report, the possibility of it having been created subsequently cannot be ruled out."
However, Sibal said that the Bengal government will file an affidavit on the same and nothing is being created subsequently.
The top court will resume hearing the case on next Tuesday.