1234 Kolkata: Four days after police arrested three college students in their early 20s for gang-raping a 16-year-old girl they met through an Instagram group last Dec, they said the accused had been threatening to release her nude photographs online all this while. The girl was gang-raped at a Golpark guest house.
Soham Banerjee (18), one of the key accused who posed as the victim's "boyfriend" after meeting her on Instagram, told cops that he "lost" his mobile barely a week after the crime was recorded. "Soham has claimed that he lost his phone a week into the incident. Even when we are trying to check his call record details, it shows that it was stolen in Dec last year. Questions arise as to which phone clippings were used to keep the victim under threat. The question also arises if this was a deliberate ploy thought well ahead in order to throw roadblocks to our probe," claimed a police source. The GD has been recorded in this regard at the Charu Market PS.
You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata
The investigation has also revealed that at least one of the accused, Aryan Mishra (20), has been a habitual offender, with three separate cases lodged against him, including those of hurt and assault across the city. "The entire crime, thus, looks organised and everything was planned much ahead of the actual occurrence," said cops.
The police now plan to speak to a few other friends of the accused, including a female friend of the accused who reportedly left after "feeling uncomfortable". The crucial statement recording at the court (that of the victim) and at the police station (of other witnesses) are scheduled to begin from Monday. "We need to check the digital footprints of the accused to verify if what Soham is claiming is actually true. We are taking the help of SED division cyber cell and Charu Market PS in this regard," said an officer.
The police are also yet to nab the fourth accused even after more than 96 hours have passed since the lodging of the plaint. The south-east division has now formed multiple teams to nab the accused and are banking on technical leads. Cops said they took the victim and the accused, separately, to the incident spot and reconstructed the scene of crime. Sources said the victim identified the room where the incident took place. "The three accused have also identified the exact spot from where they picked up the victim, the route taken, and then the commission of the crime. We are mapping them based on CCTV footage and technical evidence," said another officer.