Two prime accused in Katwa gang rape case died in a road accident on Tuesday evening.
They were on their way home after attending a hearing at Katwa court. The victim’s daughter, too, gave her statement on Tuesday.
Farid Sk and Kalam Sk, the two prime accused in the Katwa gang rape case, were returning on a motorcycle when a speeding truck mowed them down at Laghata on Tuesday evening.
On February 25, 2012, a group of dacoits boarded the Ahmedpur-Katwa passenger train posing as passengers. They held the guard of the train hostage and forced the driver to stop the train near Pachundi at Katwa. The miscreants then raped the woman for refusing to give up her valuables. They also threatened to kill her daughter, who was accompanying her, if she resisted.
After the incident, local Trinamool Congress MLA of Katwa Rabindranath Chatterjee visited the railway police station and helped the victim to lodge a complaint.
The incident caused much furore after chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that there was no evidence of rape in the medical report of the victim and that the CPI(M) had conspired to fabricate the story.
“What was the complaint in Katwa? A woman was raped in a train. Medical evidence does not prove rape. She has said her husband is a CPM supporter,” CM had said at the state secretariat on February 28, 2012.
{{/usCountry}}“What was the complaint in Katwa? A woman was raped in a train. Medical evidence does not prove rape. She has said her husband is a CPM supporter,” CM had said at the state secretariat on February 28, 2012.
{{/usCountry}}Causing yet another embarrassment to the chief minister, on March 3, 2012 Nayan Sk and Farid Sk, local Trinamool Congress activists from Chouhatta village, were arrested during a joint raid by Ketugram and Labhpur police in connection with the rape. Later Kalam Sk was also arrested.
Nayan and Farid were originally from Boroya village of Murshidabad district. After 2008 panchayat elections, they shifted to Chouhatta village. Local sources said villagers were unaware of their source of income, but they became Trinamool leaders soon after the 2011 Lok Sabha polls.
However, the duo’s death on Tuesday has raised eyebrows. “Police should investigate the case from all sides possible. We suspect foul play in the death of the two accused,” local villagers said.