4 days after Kolkata rape, cops seize hockey stick, clothing of suspects; collect DNA
KOLKATA: The hockey stick with which ex-Trinamool Chhatra Parishad union president Manojit Mishra inflicted a head injury on the 24-year-old Kolkata law student he and two others allegedly gang-raped on campus last Wednesday now sits inside an evidence bag at Lalbazar, the city police headquarters.
So do the red kurta, light brown six-pocket trousers and black shorts the prime suspect was purportedly wearing during the crime.
In four days since the assault, Kolkata Police's special investigation team has moved with urgency and meticulousness that contrast with its contentious handling of the RG Kar Medical College rape-murder case last Aug. Police said Sunday they had collected DNA samples from all three suspects and seized items of clothing from their homes in Kalighat, Tiljala and Howrah, reports Tamaghna Banerjee.
From the guard room floor where the crime occurred, forensic teams have retrieved hair strands, said to be evidence of how the survivor fought back before giving up. "I just lay like a dead body," she wrote in her complaint.
CCTV caught her being dragged back to room
Police said Sunday they had collected DNA samples from all three suspects and seized items of clothing from their homes in Kalighat, Tiljala and Howrah.
From the guard room floor where the crime occurred, forensic teams have retrieved hair strands, said to be evidence of how the survivor fought back before giving up.
'I just lay like a dead body,' she wrote in her complaint.
The real smoking gun? Mishra's cellphone. Co-suspects Zaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukherjee – both law students – allegedly filmed the assault on Mishra's orders, making sure to capture the survivor's face clearly in the frame. Those videos, sent for verification to the cyber forensics lab in Kolkata's Salt Lake, tell a story that contradicts Mishra's claims of 'consensual sex' with the woman whose refusal to accept his marriage proposal allegedly triggered the assault.
CCTV footage backs the survivor's version of what happened between 7.30pm and 10.50pm Wednesday. Cameras captured her bolting for the main gate, only to be dragged back to the guard room. They also caught the colour of Mishra's kurta, later matched to the one seized from his Kalighat home.
Based on the footage, investigators have calculated that 25 students were on campus that day, and seven were in the union room just before the assault.
Police have asked authorities of the south Kolkata law college to provide their names, phone numbers and addresses.
Mishra's phone also revealed more than just Wednesday's horror. Sources said investigators found what his circle already knew — a cache of doctored photos of female students, their faces superimposed on pornographic images and shared on WhatsApp groups.
The nine-member SIT led by an officer of the rank of assistant commissioner spent Sunday at Pramit's Howrah home, combing through his computer for more videos. Neighbours protested, but the team – bolstered by the addition of four sub-inspectors, one of them a woman officer – stayed put for two hours. What they found there is still to be disclosed.
Sources said a relative of the survivor's family told police that they were satisfied with the probe for now and are expecting a speedy trial.
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