Kolkata: Zaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukherjee, the two cronies of Monojit Mishra who are in police custody, have told interrogators that Monojit had set his eyes on the survivor the very day she had enrolled in the college. The duo told the police he frequently talked about her in close circles. After various overtures failed over a period of time, Monojit planned to offer the ‘GS post' as a final bait. But when she refused to be his girlfriend, he decided to rape her to teach a lesson, and the other two had joined him, cops have learnt.
Police said the plan against the first-year student was hatched several days ago. "Zaib and Pramit claimed that at least two days before the incident, Monojit informed them the woman come to campus to fill up a form. They were instructed to keep her there until evening," a source said.
Cops also said Monojit planned to abuse the woman again in a few days by blackmailing her with the video of the incident and had told this to his associates. "We believe the long-term plans that were hatched might have involved others. We are urging other women who may have faced similar harassment to lodge complaints," said a source.
Police are now interrogating the 17 students who were there on campus that evening to probe the wider conspiracy involved in the gang rape.
Investigators have expressed dissatisfaction with the statements of at least four of the 17 students. These four were the last ones spotted on the campus besides the three key accused, the guard who was arrested, and the survivor. Of the 17 students, 16 have recorded their statements so far. Cops hinted they will question a senior administrative official of the law college and the current ‘general secretary' again for clarification. "While the senior official claims she was called for an ‘official job', we are checking the call record details for greater clarity. Similarly, the ‘general secretary' has said that she found nothing suspicious when she left the union room. Her statement, too, has a few gaps," claimed an officer.
The arrested security guard, Pinaki Banerjee, reportedly said Monojit used the security guard's room at his discretion, even holding ‘kangaroo courts' there. Zaib and Pramit, along with Monojit's other associates, allegedly assisted him. "Pinaki said if any student opposed Monojit or any of his close associates, they were taken to the union room to be threatened. If that did not work, they were dragged to the guard's room. Pinaki blamed Monojit for the entire episode," an officer said.