Prabhash Mondol, the main accused in the gangrape and murder of an 11-year-old in West Bengal’s Baruipur, was shot dead in an encounter late Tuesday night.
According to the police, Mondol had been taken to the crime scene to reconstruct the crime as part of the investigation. Police alleged that he snatched a policeman’s firearm, fired once at the police party, and tried to escape. Police claimed they opened fire in retaliation, injuring Mondol. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead.
The encounter spot is barely 100 metres from where the girl’s body was found inside a pond. According to officials, Mondol was taken there around 12.45 am. They said it had rained and the area was dark, and Mondol allegedly snatched the service weapon of an officer identified as Rony Sarkar.
Speaking to The Indian Express on Wednesday, his mother, Sandhya, said she had told the police that she did not want to see his body. “I grieve as a mother, but I am at peace that he got the punishment for his crime,” she said. “I don’t want to see him. No one will go. He did not listen to us,” she said, calling him an “addict”. Later in the day, however, she and Mondol’s wife went to the hospital where his body was kept.
Located about 30 km from Kolkata, Baruipur in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district has been on edge after the body of a minor girl was found dumped in a pond on Sunday. An autopsy confirmed sexual assault, and police registered a case under charges of murder and gangrape and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Four people have been arrested, and a six-member Special Investigation Team is probing the incident.
Mondol, Ananda Sardar and Dibakar Sardar were among the first to be arrested. Another accused, Kabir Mollah, was arrested in Basirhat, North 24 Parganas, on Tuesday night.
In the days following the incident, a man suspected of being involved in the crime was lynched in Baruipur. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said the man was innocent.
According to police sources, CCTV footage from near the crime scene had led to the breakthrough. The footage showed the girl shortly before she went missing on Saturday. It also showed Mondol accompanying her.
On Monday, Chief Minister Adhikari visited Baruipur and met the girl’s family. He said the 200-odd people accused of damaging public property during a protest against the rape-murder had been identified, and action would be taken against them. “Those who have instigated from behind, including those rejected by the people in the recent (assembly) elections, and also some radical and anti-national forces, have been identified. The government will teach them a proper lesson,” Adhikari said.
Police have so far arrested 20 people in connection with the violence during the protests. An FIR has been filed against CPM’s central committee member Sujan Chakraborty and the party’s youth leader Layek Ali.
He also responded to allegations that the police delayed the search for the girl. “We filed a missing person complaint at the Baruipur police station around 9 pm on Saturday. Had the police started a search operation then and gone through the CCTV footage, my daughter could have been found alive,” the minor’s mother had told The Indian Express earlier. The Chief Minister said he has asked the state’s police chief to submit a report within 72 hours. “If there is any negligence regarding the time taken after the complaint was lodged, action will be taken,” he told reporters.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, meanwhile, criticised Bengal police over Mondol’s encounter. “What is going on West Bengal Police? Bengalis, please welcome new Bengal – Uttar Pradesh 2.0. BJP Bengal is no government. This is jungle law,” she posted on X.
Bengal BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya said the party had made a promise to the women of Bengal ahead of the polls – “bhoi (fear) out, bhorsha (faith) in”. “This was the Prime Minister’s message. We are doing what we said in our manifesto. Suvendu Adhikari is the Chief Minister, and the state government has taken the steps it should have. No criminal or rapist will be spared,” he said.