Eighty-seven days after the discovery of a second-year postgraduate trainee doctor’s body at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, on Monday, November 4, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court in Sealdah formally charged the prime suspect, Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police.

He, though, has always maintained that he is being falsely accused. Even today, while being taken out of the court, he raised an arm in anger and told reporters that he has been framed by the state government and that he is innocent.

The court announced that a daily trial would begin on November 11.

Roy faces charges under Sections 64, 66 and 103 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), which pertain to punishments for raping a person, for causing death or resulting in a persistent vegetative state of a victim and for murder, respectively.

“I have done nothing. I am being framed in this rape-murder case. No one is listening to me. The government is setting me up and threatening me to stay silent,” Roy told reporters as he was escorted from the court.

In its initial charge sheet submitted on October 7, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named Roy as the “sole prime accused” in the case—listing 11 pieces of evidence against him, such as reports of blood and tissue found from the victim’s nails matching with his DNA—but also noted the potential for a “larger conspiracy” behind the crime.

The woman’s body was found on August 9 in the seminar hall of RG Kar Hospital, sparking a ‘cease-work’ protest by junior doctors across Bengal demanding justice for her. Roy was arrested by the Kolkata Police on August 10.