KOLKATA: The RG Kar rape-murder case, Unnao rape, and Hathras gang rape have a common thread: the presence of CBI’s additional superintendent of police Seema Pahuja and public prosecutor Anurag Modi. Pahuja led the probe in all three cases, and Modi fought the battle inside courtroom.
Sanjay Roy, the prime accused in RG Kar rape-murder, was convicted Saturday.
For Modi, a soft-spoken man from Uttar Pradesh, the RG Kar Medical College case was a bit challenging. Immediately after CBI took over the case from Kolkata Police, Modi reached Kolkata from New Delhi. In the four months, he played a key role in arguing the case and the larger conspiracy behind the rape and murder. The first charge sheet was filed against Roy 58 days after CBI took over the case.
Modi was seen at the additional chief judicial magistrate court first and then at the sessions court daily during the trial process. He argued the case threadbare to prove Roy’s involvement in the brutal crime. Modi, who argued CBI cases like the Noida tender scam and bank frauds, was sent to argue the Unnao rape case in 2017.
On June 4, 2017, a 17-year-old girl was brutally raped in UP’s Unnao. BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was arrested in this case. CBI’s watertight case led to the BJP MLA being sentenced to life imprisonment.
In the Hathras case, CBI filed a charge sheet against four accused persons — Sandeep, Ramu, Lavkush, and Ravi — for rape and murder and violations of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Later, three of them were set free by a UP court. Only Sandeep was found guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Pahuja, who was also in charge of the Kotkhai (Gudiya) case, used lineage testing (extracting chromosomes from the victim’s body). Following her investigation in the Unnao and Hathras cases, she received the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Services in 2021.
Known for her skills in psychoanalysis of witnesses, Pahuja does not look at media reports when the probe continues. Unfazed by the reports, she continues to follow even the tiny trails. She is even unfazed by the scepticism over the probe. According to her, she is “in search of the truth” and is “finally answerable to the Almighty”.
