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‘Planned for days to torture victim’: Police on Kolkata gang-rape case accused
Police are investigating if any videos of the crime were shared; if confirmed, those who received them will also be identified and contacted.
The prime accused arrested in connection with the gangrape of a 24-year-old student at South Calcutta Law College had been planning the assault for several days, police said on Monday.
Three out of the four arrested persons – Monojit Mishra, Pratim Mukherjee and Zaid Ahmed – had pre-planned the crime, PTI quoted a police officer as saying.
The fourth accused in the case was the security guard at the college. Of the three main accused, two are senior students, while Monojit Mishra is a former student of the same institution.
Police also said that the victim had been targeted by the prime accused, Monojit Mishra, from the very first day of her admission to the college.
“The entire matter was premeditated. The trio had been plotting for several days to carry out this torture on the victim. We have found that the victim was targeted by the prime accused from the very first day she got admission to the college,” PTI quoted the police officer as saying.
Three accused had a history of sexually harassing female students
The three accused who had been plotting the torture also had a history of sexually harassing female students of the college, the nine-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case has found.
The trio would record these on their mobile phones, and later use the footage to blackmail the victims, the police officer told PTI.
Following this information, the Kolkata police has launched a search for the videos allegedly filmed by the accused on their mobile phones. The police officer said that residences of accused Mukherjee and Ahmed had been searched Sunday, adding that the cops were looking for any footage related to this or other past incidents.
The officer further said that the police were also investigating whether any clips from the crime had been shared or forwarded to anyone. “In that case, we have to get in touch with those who have received that,” the officer said.
The incident took place on June 25 inside the college premises, located in Kolkata's Kasba area. The police complaint was filed by the survivor a day later. Police suspect that the crime had been plotted after the law student rejected a proposal from the prime accused.
