Analysis of samples collected from the body of the 31-year-old junior doctor, who was raped and murdered at Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital last year, found the DNA of a woman along with that of the convict Sanjay Roy, a Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) report submitted to the local court that heard the matter said.
The report said the female DNA was found in a “very poor percentage” raising doubts on whether another woman was involved in the crime or was it because of contamination during the autopsy. “From the analysis of the nipple swab [collected from the victim’s body], it appears that it contained [a] 100 percent DNA profile of the accused Sanjay Roy and there was obviously full DNA profile of the victim. But in the… nipple swab, [the] very poor percentage of another female DNA was found,” said the 172-page court order on Monday.
The court sentenced Roy, a 35-year-old former civic police volunteer, to life in prison on Monday, saying the grisly crime did not fall in the “rarest of rare” category to deserve the death penalty.
The doctor’s family and a section of doctors have been alleging that Roy was not the only person involved in the rape and murder.
But the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which was handed over the probe into the matter, told that court that there was a probability of contamination of the swab. A CFSL scientist echoed the CBI.
“As per the submission of the counsel for the complainant [victim’s father], such contamination was done with malafide intention to make the appearance of this accused a clumsy one and to shield the others,” the court said.
The court was told that another female chromosome was found in the anal swab, nipple swab, and vulvar mop collected at the time of the doctor’s post-mortem. It cited the argument of the complainant’s counsel that some other female was involved but was kept “behind the curtain intentionally” and as such there was a need for a re-investigation.
The contamination theory gained ground when the court found in the autopsy video that other female bodies were lying on the floor of the autopsy room. It also learnt that a tray where the post-mortem of the doctor was done was not sterilised before the autopsy.
The court said it also appears that the concerned assistant did not change the gloves or apron before taking the swab or vulvar mop.
“It is also clear from the…video that the knives and scissors used for post-mortem were not sterilised,” the court said. It added this shows that the proper protocol was not followed due to a lack of model infrastructure at the post-mortem centre to conduct the ideal autopsy. “The doctors, who have conducted the post-mortem had no other option but to do their duty in such poor infrastructure,” the court said.
The presence of a full DNA profile of Roy in the nipple swab meant that he was in contact with the doctor’s body.
Roy accused police of planting his DNA when the court asked him to explain how it was found on the nipple swab. The court dismissed the argument as too weak to consider. It added the body of the victim was burnt to ashes when police held Roy. “…there was no scope of implantation of [the] saliva…,” the court said.
It cited the postmortem and called it an eye-opener. The court said there was no scope for the doctors to conduct it in an ideal manner. “…doctors are bound to do their duty knowing …fully well that there was lack of infrastructure. Before raising fingers to them, it must be considered,” the court said.