Kolkata, March 26 : The statement of a renowed psychologist whom the R.G. Kar rape and murder victim tragedy contacted for counselling a couple of months before the ghastly tragedy in August last year can now turn crucial in the course of investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The said counsellor voluntarily came forward to contact the family and the victim's close associates. He has narrated some details of what the victim woman doctor confided when she went for a counselling session a couple of months before her body was recovered from the seminar hall within the hospital premises on the morning of August 9 last year.

The counsellor had told these stakeholders that the victim came for counselling with complaints of psychological fatigue resulting from sleep deprivation because of 'sustained and prolonged duty hours' allotted to her.

As claimed by the counsellor, the victim also confided to her that the 'sustained and prolonged duty hours' were deliberately allotted to her since she started protesting against mismanagement and irregularities on the part of a section of her seniors.

The concerned counsellor has also promised the victim's parents that, given any opportunity, he would narrate his findings during the counselling sessions with the victim at any court where the matter is pending.

Sources aware of the development said the statements of the counsellor, if recorded, will be an important tool for the investigating officials of CBI in carrying forward the next lines of investigation in the matter, which is basically about the angle of evidence tampering and alteration during the initial phase of investigation.

However, Calcutta High Court's single-judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh, where a fresh hearing in the matter has started this week, had already directed the CBI to clarify to the court whether the tragedy was a case of 'rape or 'gang-rape'.

The next hearing in the matter at Justice Ghosh's bench is scheduled for March 28. The CBI had also been directed by Justice Ghosh to submit the case diary in the matter to his court on that day.

The Calcutta High Court's 'rape or gang-rape' observation has encouraged different bodies of the medical fraternity in the state to start a fresh stir on this issue in the coming days.

/IANS