KOLKATA: Sanjay Roy, has been convicted by a Kolkata court on Saturday of raping and murdering an on-duty doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, 162 days after the crime that sparked nationwide protests and widespread outrage.

The Additional District and Sessions Court, Sealdah held accused Roy a civic volunteer at the hospital 'guilty' of rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital. Judge Anirban Das pronounced the verdict in the presence of the accused. The parents of the victim were also present in the court premises. The term of the sentence will be pronounced on Monday (January 20).

A 31-year-old trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered. Her body was found on August 9 in the seminar room of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Judge Anirban Das said Sandip Roy was convicted for sexually assaulting the doctor and strangling her to death, with the CBI successfully proving all the charges against him. Roy, who has maintained his innocence throughout the trial, claimed he was framed. His statement will be recorded at 12:30 pm on Monday, followed by the sentencing.

The Court said that it finds the accused guilty on the basis of evidence put forward by the Central Bureau of India (CBI) for which the highest punishment will be death and least will be life imprisonment. The judge said the accused is being held guilty of Sections 64, 66, and 103 (1) of Bharatiya Nyay Samhita and informed Roy that he had entered the hospital on August 9 and smothered the victim to death and committed sexual assault on her.

The CBI filed a chargesheet against Sanjay Roy, a civic police volunteer, on October 7. The victim’s body was recovered from a seminar room in a hospital on August 9. Roy, who had been arrested by the Kolkata Police before the case was transferred to the CBI, is accused of involvement in the crime. The CBI’s chargesheet listed 11 pieces of evidence confirming his role in the crime, including CCTV footage that shows him entering and exiting the scene.

Roy pleaded his innocence when the verdict was read out in the court. “I did not do this, sir. The ones who have done this, why are they not being held?,” he told the court. The Judge said that Roy would get a chance to speak on Monday before the sentencing. The parents of the deceased doctor broke down after the verdict was pronounced. “You have lived up to the faith we had placed in you,” the victim’s father told the judge.