Kolkata law college gang-rape: CCTV footage shows victim forced into guard’s room, police say

The officials also collected evidence from three locations on campus, including the students’ union room, the washroom, and the guard’s room.

The CCTV camera footage obtained from South Calcutta Law College has corroborated the gangrape allegations made by a 24-year-old student against three people, including a college alumnus, a police official said on Saturday.

Three accused and a security guard have been arrested in the gangrape case. (File photo/PTI)

A report in PTI said that the CCTV footage, spanning over seven hours from 3.30 pm to 10.50 pm on June 25, captured the movements around the college premises. The footage showed the victim being forced into the guard's room, where she was sexually assaulted by three accused.

"The CCTV footage confirms the girl's allegations. It shows the movements of the three accused, the security guard, and the victim. We are currently examining the footage," an investigating officer told PTI.

Three accused, including the prime suspect Manojit Mishra, and a security guard have been arrested in the case. The incident occurred at the South Calcutta Law College on the evening of June 25.

Meanwhile, the probing officials collected evidence from three locations on campus, including the students’ union room, the washroom, and the guard’s room, which supports the victim's claims.

Police said that the seized items from the three locations include strands of hair, several bottles containing unknown liquids, and a hockey stick.

The official said that there are clear signs of a struggle in the three rooms, adding that the samples have been sent for forensic examination.

The victim, in her complaint, said she was threatened with a hockey stick by the accused. The officials have also recovered a 1.5-minute video clip from a mobile phone belonging to the main accused. Apart from Manojit Mishra, who is an alumnus and ad-hoc staff at the institution, two current students Pratim Mukherjee and Zaib Ahmed have also been arrested.

"A forensic analysis of the video is underway. We're trying to determine if it was shared or deleted," the officer reportedly said.

Earlier in the day, the police arrested college security guard Pinaki Banerjee after he failed to provide coherent responses during questioning.

"The guard did nothing to protect the victim. Evidence suggests he left the scene even as the victim was forcibly taken into his room by the main accused, while the other two stood guard outside," the officer said.

SIT formed to probe Kolkata gangrape

The Kolkata Police has formed a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), led by Assistant Commissioner of Police (South Suburban Division), Pradip Ghoshal. The SIT is expected to record a confidential statement from the victim and her parents.

The police is also trying to find out whether the crime was pre-planned by the accused.

"Going by the sequence of events, it appears that the prime accused tortured the victim after she rejected his marriage proposal. This has been corroborated by the circumstantial evidence," the officer said.

"But whether it was a pre-planned crime needs to be proved," the officer said.

According to the investigators, the woman told the three accused that she had a boyfriend and was "happy with him" and would not "cheat him".

The trio then threatened to kill her boyfriend and lodge false cases against her parents if she continued to resist the prime accused's proposal, she alleged.

The medical examination on Friday confirmed the student's allegation that she was gang raped.