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CBI gathers proof in Hanskhali rape, murder case; BJP team attacks TMC
Earlier in the day, a fact-finding team set up by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J P Nadda visited the victim’s home and raised questions of whether the victim was alive at the time of creation.
Kolkata: A team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and forensic investigators on Friday collected samples from the site of cremation of the 14-year-old who died after allegedly being gang-raped on April 4 in Hanskhali village of Nadia district, agency officials privy to the investigation said.
Officials from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) collected samples from the cremation site, as well as the homes of the accused Brajagopal Gayali and Prabhakar Poddar. Gayali is the son of Trinamool Congress (TMC) panchayat member Samarendra Gayali.
Earlier in the day, a fact-finding team set up by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J P Nadda visited the victim’s home and raised questions of whether the victim was alive at the time of creation.
“When I asked the victim’s mother if her daughter was alive, when she was taken away to the cremation site by the accused persons, she collapsed,” Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury, BJP MLA from English Bazar and a member of the fact-finding team, told the media after speaking with the victim’s mother.
“The victim was bleeding profusely and writhing in pain throughout the night. Her parents could not call the doctor or inform the police, as their entire house was surrounded and the family was being threatened. Later, the victim was wrapped in a mat and taken away, while her father ran after them. She was cremated,” she added.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: “This is politically motivated. When the CBI is probing the case on the orders of the high court such visits and remarks are intended to influence the investigation.”
A police officer familiar from the station where the case was filed said a medical examination of the victim was not carried out before she was cremated. “Who has confirmed that she had died before being cremated? She wasn’t checked by any medical practitioner. There is no death certificate. No post-mortem was done. Then how can we say that she died before being cremated,” said the officer.
The victim’s father on Wednesday alleged that his daughter’s body was taken away for cremation at gunpoint by the prime accused.
The BJP had on Wednesday formed a five-member team comprising Member of Parliament Rekha Verma and Uttar Pradesh minister Baby Rani Maurya among others. The team is expected to submit its report to Nadda on Saturday. Maurya did not visit village on Friday.
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh had slammed the move saying the CBI is probing the matter. “It seems the BJP has no faith in CBI because the truth may come out if a fair probe is done. The fact-finding team actually wants to influence the investigation. What the BJP is doing is plain politics, crude and disgraceful,” Ghosh had said.
