Golam Azam was not in the emergency building at the time of R G Kar crime: Multiple testimonies support his alibi

The two persons who have been most frequently named in social media theories as accused in the R G Kar rape and murder case in Kolkata are Arshean Alam and Golam Azam. Both of them work as house staff at the same hospital where the female postgraduate trainee’s (PGT) body was found on August 9. An Alt News investigation has already established that Arshean Alam was at his home at the time of the commissioning of the crime and is being targeted without any evidence of involvement whatsoever. This story is about Golam Azam and his whereabouts on the night of the incident.

Right-wing X user Hindutva Knight (@HPhobiaWatch) tweeted images of Arshean and Golam, claiming that the Bengal government was trying to protect them. The tweet has garnered 22 Lakh views and has been retweeted over 7,000 times. This claim was further amplified by Right-wing columnist Madhu Kishwar, who shared a list that included Arshean and Golam’s names. Kishwar alleged that all the people on the list had been absconding. She claimed that their names “explain(ed)” why there was a “determined attempt to shield them” and added that one man (arguably referring to Sanjay Roy, the prime accused and only person arrested in the case) had been “tricked into raping her dead body.”

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Media outlet ABP Live mentioned Golam Azam’s name in a report.

Twitter user @MrNationalistJJ tweeted pictures of the social media profiles of three individuals, one of which is Golam. This user claims that these three, whom he identified as ‘the culprits’, had left the country. (Archive)

Golam’s name was circulated with the same claim by various other social media users. On Facebook, a post mentioning his name as a suspect was published on a group page named West Bengal Doctors Forum. (Archives 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

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Facebook has since been flooded with these claims. Below is a 40 second screen recording of some posts on Facebook making the same allegation.

Alt News Investigation

Dr Golam Azam, a 2018-entrant into the MBBS course at R G Kar medical College and Hospital, completed his mandatory one-year internship and subsequently became a house staff at the chest medicine department of the same hospital, much like Arshean. He was on duty on the night of the alleged rape and murder.

During investigation, Alt News recorded three testimonies: one from a source within the Kolkata Police, one from a doctor who was also on duty at the emergency ward that night, and one from another junior doctor from the chest medicine department.

The emergency ward is on the ground floor of the emergency building, while the seminar room, where the body was found, is on the third floor.

Below is a graphical representation of the corroborating testimonies that we got:

Testimony I: Kolkata Police

A Kolkata Police source gave their testimony to Alt News based on their examination of the CCTV footage. They told us, “On that day, Dr Golam’s duty was on the ground floor. He went twice to the third floor, first to have dinner. He had dinner with the victim and others, and that was between 12 and 1 am. Then he came down. Then CCTV clearly shows that he is going to the third floor around 3 am. He is seen entering a room where some tests are conducted. After that, he’s seen coming out with certain papers and going towards the seminar room, and within 5-6 minutes he comes back and comes down to the ground floor. Around 3:15, he is seen leaving the hospital and never comes back again that night. While on the third floor, he peeps into the seminar hall momentarily to look for Dr ***. (Alt News is withholding this name. This is not the victim.) He comes back in the morning after people inform him that this is what has happened.”

The autopsy of the slain doctor put the time of death between 3 and 5 am. Further, Sanjay Roy, the prime accused, was seen entering the emergency building of the hospital around 4 am and leaving the building 40 minutes later.

Keeping the above time frame in mind, several significant details come out from the above testimony.

1. Golam Azam went to the third floor around 3 am.
2. He is seen with some papers in his hand peeping into the seminar room.
3. He comes back to the ground floor within 5-6 minutes.
4. He leaves the emergency building at 3.15 am and comes back only on the following morning.

Alt News found in its probe that after leaving the emergency building, Azam went to the hostel on the campus. This was corroborated by the Kolkata Police source. They confirmed to us that they had examined footage from the CCTV camera outside the hostel.

Testimony II: Doctor at the Emergency Ward who was on Duty that Night

Alt News spoke to a doctor in the emergency ward who was on call on the same day. Their duty hours overlapped with that of Golam’s. According to their statement, Golam’s duty hours began at 9 pm on August 8.

This doctor told us, “He went upstairs around 1 am to have dinner with the victim and other colleagues. Later, he mentioned that there were no more chest patients, so he was leaving. I saw him taking his bag and exiting the emergency ward. I, too, was in the emergency ward at that time. I don’t recall the exact time he left, but it was after 2:30 am. The ER was very busy that night, so I didn’t check the time.”

The most crucial detail in this testimony is that Golam left the emergency some time after 2.30 am that night. This corroborates the testimony from Kolkata Police. Although the second testimony does not have the exact time Golam left, they confirmed that Golam met them in the emergency and informed them he was leaving because there were “no more chest patients.” He then took his bag and left.

It is worth noting that under normal circumstances, people generally don’t keep track of exact timings for events that seem routine at the moment.

Testimony III: Doctor at Chest Medicine Department

Alt News also spoke to a doctor at the chest medicine department of R G Kar Hospital who is in the know of Golam’s whereabouts from that night. They told us, “Golam was on duty at the emergency on the night of the incident. He visited the third floor twice — first at around 1 am to have dinner with colleagues, including the victim. The second visit was at 3 am to retrieve lab results. Afterwards, he went to the seminar hall to find another doctor posted at the chest department, but the doctor wasn’t there. Instead, Golam found the victim sleeping in the hall. He left the third floor within five minutes and returned to the emergency ward.”

Alt News tried multiple times to speak to Golam Azam directly, but he declined to comment. We can, however, confirm that he is not absconding and is cooperating in the investigation.

All these corroborating testimonies establish the whereabouts of Golam Azam in the emergency building between 3 and 3.15 am on the night of the alleged crime. And at 3.15 am he leaves the building and does not come back till the next morning, Kolkata Police sources confirmed to us upon the examination of CCTV footage. The prime accused is seen entering the emergency building around 4 and leaving around 4.40 am. Taken together, these establish the fact that Golam Azam can not be involved in the commissioning of the crime at R G Kar hospital that night. The social media trial of him, as such trials often are, is not backed by any evidence whatsoever.

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