Durgapur gang-rape case: Police find discrepancies in statements of accused

Kolkata: Even after six days of interrogation, the police duirng their investigation have found discrepancies in the statements of the Durgapur gang-rape victim’s male friend and five arrested youths from the local village.

The police are trying to find some missing links in this gang-rape case, said officials.

Police investigation revealed that the medical student was in a relationship with her classmate cum male friend. They had gone out on that fateful night outside the campus of the private medical college and hospital in Durgapur.

First it was said that they had gone out to buy dinner. However, investigation revealed that they were found in a compromising position in a forested area outside the campus by three of the five arrested accused youths.

As the accused demanded money from the two, the male friend was allowed to leave the area to get money. It is at that time that one of the accused raped the medical student while two others watched. Later, two more youths turned up at the scene of crime. The mobile phone of the medical student was snatched. The male friend arrived with money and the two of them were let go, said police sources.

According to investigators, from the first day, the medical student’s male friend Wasif Ali misguided the police. As a result, the police were confused during the course of investigation. The investigators are comparing the statements of the victim, the male friend and five youths from the village. However, there are still several discrepancies in their statements.

All the arrested will be produced in a court on Wednesday as their police custody ends. The police said they will seek an extension of their custody for further interrogation and investigation into the matter.

Meanwhile, the medical student was discharged from the hospital last Friday. However, she is not staying in the college hostel, but in a rented house in Durgapur under police surveillance. The student is accompanied by her mother. Policemen have also been posted outside the house for her security.

On October 10, the second-year medical student from Odisha was allegedly gang-raped by five persons in a forested area outside a private medical college and hospital in West Burdwan district’s Durgapur. Based on the complaint lodged by the victim, the police earlier arrested all the five accused persons in the case. The police said that only one person was involved in physical sexual assault to the medical student.

Later, the police arrested the male friend of the victim. The male friend was arrested after investigators found inconsistencies in his response during interrogation. He is also presently in police custody.

The victim’s father, meanwhile, demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the incident to punish the culprits quickly.

IANS