Kolkata rape case: 4th accused arrested, SIT formed amid growing outrage

Kolkata Police on Saturday arrested a security guard of a law college here in connection with the alleged gang rape of a first-year student of the institute earlier this week, an officer said.

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The total number of arrests has now reached four in the crime that took place inside the guard's room on the college premises on June 25.

The city police also formed a five-member special investigation team (SIT) led by an assistant commissioner rank officer, to probe the case, even as outrage over the incident continued to grow.

Meanwhile, tensions flared up as the police stopped a BJP protest march to the college and detained the party's West Bengal unit chief Sukanta Majumdar and several other leaders.

The BJP accused the West Bengal government of failing to ensure campus safety and demanded swift action against the culprits in the alleged gang rape incident.

The college guard, who was detained by the police for questioning, was arrested later, the officer said.

“The security guard was arrested this morning after we found that his replies were incoherent. His presence at the college has been captured in the CCTV installed on the college premises,” he said.

The guard failed to carry out his duty, the officer said, adding that the police were trying to find out whether he was alone on duty at that time or not.

The 24-year-old victim of the South Calcutta Law College was allegedly raped by two senior students and an alumnus of the institution in the guard's room on June 25.

Following her complaint, the police arrested prime accused Manojit Mishra, Promit Mukherjee and Zaid Ahmed.

During the day, the Kolkata Police formed a five-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe into the alleged gang rape of the student, another officer said.

The five-member SIT would be led by an assistant commissioner rank officer, he said.

“An SIT has been formed to probe into the alleged crime. It will start its investigation immediately,” the officer said.

The police suspected that the law college student was gang-raped since she turned down the marriage proposal of the main accused, another officer said.

He said the police were also trying to find out whether the entire crime was pre-planned or not, he said.

The police also said a seven-hour-long CCTV footage from the law college premises corroborated allegations of the victim, an investigating officer said.

Besides, the evidence collected from the three rooms of the college also supported her claims, he added.

Meanwhile, the state witnessed several protests over the alleged gang rape incident.

The police stopped a BJP rally led by Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar and detained him along with several other party leaders when they tried to take out the protest march to a law college in the city, where a student was allegedly gang-raped, another officer said.

The rally was not allowed to proceed towards the South Calcutta Law College where the student was allegedly gang-raped.

“The rally was stopped at Gariahat crossing in south Kolkata, and Majumdar and several other BJP leaders were detained. They were taken to the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar,” the senior officer said.

The 3-km protest march was planned by the BJP from the Gairahat crossing to the South Calcutta Law College in the Kasba area.

BJP president J P Nadda has formed a four-member committee which will visit the state to investigate the matter and submit its findings, the party's national spokesperson Sambit Patra said.

Biplab Kumar Deb and Manan Kumar Mishra, both MPs, and Satyapal Singh and Meenakshi Lekhi, both former parliamentarians, are its members.

The BJP in New Delhi said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should apologise and offer to resign over the alleged gang rape of the law college student in Kolkata, claiming that all the accused were linked to the ruling Trinamool Congress.

Majumdar alleged that there is “no security for women and they are not at all safe in Bengal”.

“We were here to protest against the rising number of crimes against women. The police did not allow us to hold the rally. The chief minister must take responsibility for the gang rape incident,” the union minister said in Kolkata.

He also said, “The CM is not only the chief minister but also our police minister. Police personnel act like Trinamool Congress workers. They are preventing us from conducting a protest rally. Mamata does not want Sukanta Majumdar to hold any rally here,” he said.