Woman’s absence hits B-school rape probe, gives edge to defence
Times of India | 16 July 2025
Kolkata: The woman who accused a 26-year-old MBA student at a premier B-school in Kolkata of rape did not turn up before the magistrate for the second day in a row to record her confidential testimony, giving cops a hard time in the case.
According to sources, even four days after the allegations of rape shocked the B-school campus, the nine-member SIT team is yet to collect crucial evidence like the woman's medico-legal test, her clothes, and cell phone, and convince her to testify her statement before the magistrate. To make things worse, differing versions of the timeline before and after the incident have appeared over the last few days from the woman, her parents, cops, and the institute, as cops still struggle to lay down the exact sequence of events.
With the survivor and her family remaining unresponsive since lodging the complaint, advocates of the accused said that it has opened fresh avenues and pointers of defence during the next hearing on Saturday when they appeal for the second-year MBA student's bail.
"My client has been cooperating with the cops in the investigation thoroughly. But it is the cops' duty to justify the allegations with evidence. So far, all they have is an allegation once made by the woman, and since then, police have not been able to gather any real evidence of the alleged crime. It shows my client is innocent, and that is the reason cops are finding it difficult to gather enough evidence against him," said Kanishk Ravindran, the MBA student's counsel. "The woman's father also told the media publicly that her daughter was not sexually assaulted and that cops forced her to write the complaint. Thus, it proves my client has not committed any crime and has been arrested only on the basis of baseless allegations.
"Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the SIT team visited the B-school campus and studied the alleged scene of the crime — the hostel room — to look for more available evidence and a possible breakthrough in the case.
Sources said the team visited the campus on Tuesday afternoon and stayed there for close to three hours at the room and the alley leading to the room. "Although the cops stayed on the campus for long, they did not question any student or security guard," an official said.
A senior officer of Kolkata Police said they are likely to escort the accused to the alleged scene of the crime over the next two days for a reconstruction of the crime, fixing up the actual place of occurrence, and collection of further evidence.