NORTH 24 PARGANAS: The father of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape and murder victim voiced strong dissatisfaction with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday, pointing out inconsistencies in their investigative reports.
“CBI has presented two drastically different reports in the Calcutta High Court and the Sealdah district Court. We will tell this today in the High Court that two different status reports are being presented… Even Supreme Court judges could not believe the gravity of the report submitted to them. We had faith in the CBI, but now we are losing all hope.”
He stated that the CBI possesses knowledge about the individuals responsible for his daughter’s rape and murder but is concealing crucial information, leading to his diminished faith in the investigating body.
“CBI knows the perpetrators behind the rape and murder of my daughter but it is not revealing the details…,” he said.
He raised apprehensions about possible unauthorised handling of his daughter’s mobile phone. His concerns stemmed from information received from his daughter’s friend about her departure from their social circle. He emphasised that her mobile device contains vital evidence.
He additionally expressed his complete loss of trust in the judicial process.
“My daughter’s friends visited me two days ago and showed that somebody has accessed her phone to leave their common WhatsApp group. The CBI has her phone but they deny having it. Her mobile phone has all the answers. I have no faith in anyone in the Indian legal system anymore,’ he said.
The incident at RG Kar Medical College occurred on August 9, 2024, when authorities discovered the lifeless body of a 31-year-old female postgraduate trainee doctor in a seminar room within the campus.
The incident sparked nationwide demonstrations and public outcry, with citizens demanding swift justice for the deceased.
Following the Calcutta High Court’s disapproval of the local police investigation, the case was reassigned to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Subsequently, the CBI apprehended multiple suspects, including the primary accused, Sanjay Roy, who received a conviction for the offence.
The Supreme Court conducted proceedings in a suo motu case regarding the assault and killing of the trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The victim’s parents received legal representation from Senior Advocate Karuna Nundy.

An inquiry ordered by the Madras High Court has revealed that an examination in ‘History of Communication’ paper was indeed conducted by the Department of Journalism and Communication in the University of Madras on May 11, 2024 as claimed by a student.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement

An inquiry ordered by the Madras High Court has revealed that an examination in ‘History of Communication’ paper was indeed conducted by the Department of Journalism and Communication in the University of Madras on May 11, 2024 as claimed by a student but, shockingly, refuted by the university administration.

Justice N. Mala had on April 1, 2025 appointed Senior Counsel A.K. Sriram to conduct the inquiry since the university had stoutly denied the conduct of any such examination on May 11, 2024 and opposed a writ petition filed by the student Amanda Miriam Fernandez R. to declare the results of that exam.

The copy of the inquiry report served on the petitioner’s counsel V. Vasanthakumar as well as university counsel V. Sudha stated that the inquiry officer had sent e-mails and WhatsApp messages summoning all seven students, including the writ petitioner, who had supposedly written the May 11 examination for questioning.

However, only the petitioner and two other students responded to the e-mails and WhatsApp messages sent to them by the inquiry officer and appeared in person before him. All three students asserted that the examination was conducted on May 11, 2024 and even a WhatsApp group was created for this purpose.

Research scholar Sharmila initially feigned ignorance about the WhatsApp group, to the inquiry officer, but on being shown the screenshots, she admitted to have created the group on the instructions of the Head of the Department of Journalism and Communication (in-charge) T.R. Gopalakrishnan.

On his part, Mr. Gopalakrishnan told the inquiry officer that the examination conducted on May 11, 2024 was in the nature of a mock exam and that it was conducted since the seven students had attendance issues. He also conceded that the students were asked to pay exam fees.

Stating that the examination was subsequently not approved by the university and therefore, the students could not benefit out of it, the HoD (in-charge) said, he did all of it for the benefit of the students but unfortunately, the decision making authority in the university did not approve the exam.

Mr. Sriram also found that it was Associate Professor Beulah Rachel Rajarathnamani of the Department of Journalism who had sent a written communication to the university Registrar on December 16, 2024 claiming that no examination was conducted on May 11, 2024 for the seven students of the 2022-24 batch.

Ms. Rajarathnamani had also written a letter to the university counsel Ms. Sudha on March 26, 2025 stating that the seven students could not write the exam originally conducted on May 26, 2023 due to lack of attendance. Hence, they were asked to redo the course and sit for the examination on November 19, 2024.

Only six of the students redid the course and wrote the examination in November 2024. The writ petitioner alone did not redo the course. “The statement of Ms. Fernandez that an exam was conducted on May 11, 2024 and the April 2024 question paper she has produced in the court is completely false,” Ms. Rajarathnamani said.

Further, during the inquiry, the Associate Professor told the Senior Counsel that as per the Choice Based Credit System Handbook, it was only she, in her capacity as course instructor, was entitled to conduct and evaluate the exam but she had not set any question paper in April 2024 or conducted the examination on May 11, 2024.

However, on being shown screenshots of the WhatsApp group conversations with respect to the conduct of the examination on May 11, 2024 and the request to pay exam fees, Mr. Rajarathinam said, she was not a part of the group and that she was not aware of the examination conducted on May 11, 2024.

After hearing all of them, Mr. Sriram concluded that that an examination was indeed conducted on May 11, 2024 for seven students and that the question paper dated April 2024 was also genuine since it had been furnished to the students on the instructions of Mr. Gopalakrishnan who was the HoD (in-charge).

Justice Mala took the inquiry report on file, recorded the court’s appreciation for the Senior Counsel for having taken the pains to conduct the inquiry and adjourned the hearing on the writ petition to June 9 at the request of the university counsel who sought time to file an additional affidavit.

Bengaluru: In a sign of growing popularity of residential schools in the state, as many as 2,75,610 candidates have applied for the 52,830 seats available at govt-run co-educational residential institutions under the Karnataka Residential Educational Institutions Society (KREIS) and the minority welfare department for the 2025-26 academic year.
According to KREIS data, 2,19,186 candidates have applied for 41,500 seats available in co-educational boarding schools. This marks an approximately 17% increase in the number of applicants, compared to the previous year’s figures of 1.87 lakh, according to data from the department of social welfare.
The trend has held in schools under the minority welfare department as well, which have seen a roughly 34% increase in number of applicants for 2025-26, over the previous year. According to the department, it received 56,424 applications for the 11,330 seats that are up for grabs this year. In other words, roughly five students are competing for each seat in this category.
Last year, 42,000 candidates had applied in this category, the department said.
KEA data show, so far, 26,182 seats have been allotted in the first of two rounds of selection under KREIS.
Exams for KREIS schools, conducted by the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA), are crucial for 821 institutions, including Morarji Desai Residential Schools, Ekalavya Model Residential School, Kithuru Rani Channamma, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee School among others.
“There has been so much focus on KREIS from the state govt and the chief minister himself. This time, 34% additional funding was made available to KREIS. So, we can improve the schools like never before. All schools are going to get their own buildings. Results have also improved. Notebooks and uniforms will come on time,” said an official.
For the first time, the minority welfare department held the selection process online. The entrance test was held on April 27 at 145 exam centres across Karnataka.
However, with increased competition, it is now quite common for students in the northern districts to skip regular classes and train at coaching centres for entrance tests.
Sounding a word of caution, a primary school teacher said: “Many illegal tuition centres have cropped up, which are in a tie-up with some of these schools. Primary school students often skip regular classes for a full day to attend these coaching centres, just to crack the entrance exams.”