'Court should hear accused': Oppn leaders on RG Kar case verdict

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], January 20 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Samik Bhattacharya on Monday morning questioned the haste in the RG Kar rape and murder case, saying that the investigation should continue and other persons behind the crime must also be given capital punishment.
"We still believe that Sanjay Roy's confession should be heard. It is the prerogative of the courts to decide on the quantum of punishment. There is a court-monitored investigation but why so much hurry? Abhishek Banerjee, on the first day, said he (Roy) should be shot down and that he should be hanged to death immediately. Justice hurried is justice buried," Bhattacharya told ANI.
He said the court should hear the accused Sanjay Roy and the revelations he intends to make. People have doubts and questions over the destruction of evidence in the case, the BJP leader added.
Bhattacharya maintained that Sanjay Roy should be punished, but capital punishment must also extend to other persons involved in this case.
"Who destroyed the evidence? Why was the autopsy done after sunset? People have their doubts and questions about this. The court should hear what he (Roy) has to say. The investigation should continue. The court should hear which IPS officer he wants to name. Whoever is involved in this case should get the death penalty. There is evidence against Sanjay Roy but only him getting the death penalty while the others hide, this should not happen either," he added.
Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya asserted that there might be others involved in the incident of rape and murder, who have not been brought before the court.
"He (Roy) has been found to be guilty because he was the only accused put on trial. The other persons (involved) have not been brought before the court. The court has no alternative but to find him guilty. It is up to the court whether to award the capital punishment or not," the CPI (M) leader told ANI.
He further said that it was the duty of the court and the investigating agencies to carry out a fresh inquiry into the allegations made by the accused Sanjay Roy.
"(Accused) Sanjay Roy said without hesitation that he has been made a victim of the whole situation. It was the duty of both the court and the investigating agency to conduct a fresh inquiry into such an allegation. Some other people must also have been involved in this. I have been saying from day one that this is a case of a larger conspiracy and unfortunately the investigating agency has not even tried to find out the other aspects of the conspiracy till now," Bhattacharya, who is also an advocate, said.
This comes after Sealdah Civil and Criminal Court on Saturday pronounced Sanjay Roy guilty in the RG Kar rape and murder case of a trainee doctor. The court said that Sections 64,66, 103/1 of BNS have been framed against the accused.
"There is a complaint against the accused that he went to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and went to the seminar room, assaulted and murdered the lady doctor taking rest there," the court said.
The case, which involves the rape and murder of a trainee doctor whose body was found on August 9 in the hospital's seminar room, sparked widespread protests. After the incident, Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer at the hospital, was arrested in connection with the crime.