The four men – including the prime suspect – arrested for the rape of a law student had been taken to South Calcutta Law College for a reconstruction of the scene of crime on Friday.
A police team took alumnus cum contractual staff, Monojit Mishra; current students, Pramit Mukherjee and Zaib Ahmed; and security guard, Pinaki Banerjee to the college at Kasba area on Friday at around 4.30am to recreate and document and also understand the sequence of events leading to the rape of the 24-year-old student on the evening of June 25.
“The reconstruction of the crime scene is a vital part of the investigation. We completed the task today. The four accused persons were taken to the South Calcutta Law College early this morning, and the task is done,” a police officer told news agency PTI.
According to the officer, the complete reconstruction process followed by a large police team took about five hours, then the four parties involved were taken back to the police station.
“Our findings will now be cross-checked with the allegation of the woman and verified with other evidence,” the officer said.
According to police, Mishra – who allegedly raped the woman – was in the room of the security guard with Mukherjee and Ahmed, when the alleged incident took place. The medical examination and circumstantial evidence backed up the first-year student’s allegations of the woman being gang-raped.
During an interview with NDTV, the survivor said all of the students “feared” Mishra, who previously was associated with the ruling Trinamool Congress, on the campus. “There was an atmosphere of intimidation on the campus. He used to take pictures of female students, modify them to be of a sexual relationship, and share them on WhatsApp groups. He also sexually harassed the students. It was so intimidating that students were scared to go to classes,” she said.
Police said Mishra has 11 cases against him, most of them are related to harassment and misbehaviour against women. He was out on bail on those cases.
Mishra’s father Robin told NDTV that his son was a good student. “That’s why he became an advocate,” he told NDTV.
“This is a sub judice matter. No citizen who believes in the Constitution must comment on this,” he said when asked to comment on the case.
The college has terminated the appointment of Mishra, a casual employee who was hired by an earlier recommendation by its governing body in the wake of his arrest.
The college’s records show that Mishra was previously a student of the institute and he was a student admitted in 2013. That year he was rusticated after they charged him with stabbing a youth on Chetla Bridge in the Kalighat police station jurisdiction.
The authorities extended the police custody of Mishra and the two students till July 8 in court on Monday. The security guard will remain in police custody till Friday.
