A Kolkata court on Thursday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a polygraph test on Dr Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, and five other doctors who were colleagues of the victim.
This comes as the latest development in the central agency's probe of the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at the state-run hospital.
Notably, the Sealdah court though has granted the permission for the test, it has not yet set a date for the conducting of the polygraph test on the accused parties, Live Law reported.
Earlier in the day, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had told the Supreme Court that the application for conducting polygraph tests was pending before the trial court.
Ghosh, who resigned from his post two days after the victim's body was found in the seminar hall of the state-run institution on August 9, has already appeared several times before the federal agency for questioning.
A CBI official had earlier told news agency PTI that they wanted to further verify Ghosh's answer as there have been discrepancies in some of the answers he gave to their questions.
The former principal's role in the case after receiving news about the doctor's death, the intimation made to the victim's parents and the three-hour waiting time the parents were put through before being allowed to see her body, all of these points have been raised and quizzed on by the central agency.
Ghosh was also asked about the authorisation of the renovation work that took place in areas adjacent to the seminar hall, where the deceased doctor's body was found.
The Supreme Court had also questioned the state of West Bengal as to how Ghosh, who was already under scrutiny, was appointed as a principal to another college immediately after his resignation from RG Kar.
The top court asked why did he first pass off the doctor's death as suicide and why was there a delay in filing a complaint on her death and what was he doing during all these proceedings.
Several shocking claims about Ghosh had also emerged in light of the ongoing probe into the rape and murder of the trainee doctor.
Reports had said that Ghosh was involved in biomedical waste and medical supplies trafficking to the neighbouring country of Bangladesh.
Former deputy superintendent of the state-run hospital, Akhtar Ali, had also said that the state vigilance committee did not take any action against Ghosh, despite the probe finding him guilty.
