Campus gang rape: Arrested guard of law college may turn approver
Times of India | 1 July 2025
Kolkata: Three days after Kolkata Police arrested Pinaki Banerjee, the 55-year-old security guard of the law college where a first-year student was gang-raped, police indicated that they were considering moving the court to get his confidential statement recorded before a magistrate. The police claimed that his evidence can clinch the case, making him the primary witness. The cops wish to use his testimony in proving how the main accused, 31-year-old Monojit Mishra, was using the student union room and the guard room to "run his fiefdom" over a considerable period of time. For this, the statements of two other guards of the college — a permanent one and the other a temporary one — are also being pursued. Banerjee was arrested after inconsistencies in his answers during intensive questioning that began on Friday. Cops claimed he was arrested for "facilitating the crime". During questioning, Banerjee reportedly claimed that he was threatened not to leak the incident. "He claimed that even his mobile phone was snatched from him so that he could not report the matter. His claim needs to be verified," said a police source.
Banerjee has also claimed that the main accused, Mishra, had desparately asked him to search for fellow accused Pramit Mukhopadhyay around 8. 20pm-8. 25 pm and asked Mukherjee to send "Pramit to him immediately". "Monojit had barked out the order and he looked anxious," said a cop. "He is repeatedly claiming helplessness, saying he was forced and confined inside the union room. But the question is, why did he help lock the main gate, thereby preventing the woman from leaving after the initial assault in the union room? Why did he not inform the college authorities or the police after he was released or when he got back home?" an investigating officer asked. "Banerjee hails from Khardah but was presently residing at Naskarhat Khalpar Dakshipara, near Mahabir Multi Gym under Kasba PS," said Rupesh Kumar, Joint CP (Crime & Traffic). According to police sources, the preliminary investigation of his tower location and key witnesses, two of whom were present post 5 pm on the campus, revealed that Banerjee was present at his sentry position outside the guard room at the time of the crime. Acting on the accused's instructions or "threats", as claimed by Banerjee, he left his guard room, leaving the woman alone. Despite her pleas for help, the guard failed to assist her, police said. The 24-year-old survivor alleged that the security guard was made to sit outside the room after the main gate of the college was locked. "I packed my things and went outside to escape and saw that they had locked the main gate. The guard was helpless and did not help," the survivor told cops.