College staffer among 3 held for gang-raping Bengal law student

Two students and a staffer of a government-run law college in the heart of Kolkata allegedly gang-raped a 24-year-old student and tried to hit her with a hockey stick, after the main accused pressured her for marriage, police said on Friday, as a huge political row erupted over the grim crime.

- Joydeep Thakur

KOLKATA:

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that main accused in the crime—31-year-old Monojit Mishra, a former student of the college who is currently a non-teaching staffer at the institution—was a key office-bearer of the student wing of the Trinamool Congress but the state's ruling party said he never held any important position.

Mishra's social media account said that he was a former chief of TMC's youth wing in the same college.

Police identified the other two accused as students Zaib Ahmed, 19, and Pramit Mukherjee, 20.

"We have registered a FIR under sections 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 70(1) (gang rape) and 3(5) (common intention) of the BNS. Three persons have been arrested on the basis of a written complaint lodged by the victim on June 26," a senior Kolkata Police officer told HT.

Police said that the alleged incident took place between 7.30 pm and 10.50 pm on Wednesday, when the victim went to the college to fill up some forms for an upcoming exam. The victim—who was allegedly offered the TMCP's women's wing secretary post in the college—was asked by the accused to stay back for some discussions, she said in her complaint, which HT has seen.