Kolkata police seized the hockey stick of the ex-Trinamool Chhatra Parishad union president, who allegedly gang-raped a 24-year-old law student and used the stick to assault her last Wednesday night, said police adding that the red kurta, light brown six-pocket trousers, and black shorts of the prime suspect were also seized.
Police told reporters Sunday they had recovered DNA from all three suspects and seized items of clothing from their homes in Kalighat, Tiljala and Howrah, reports Tamaghna Banerjee.
Forensic teams have retrieved hair strands from the floor of the guard room where the crime took place and said it is evidence of the manner in which the survivor fought back before surrendering. “I just lay like a dead body,” she stated in her complaint. CCTV captured her being dragged back into the room. Police said on Sunday, they had obtained DNA samples from all three suspects and seized articles of clothing from their addresses in Kalighat, Tiljaila and Howrah. Forensic teams have retrieved hair strands from the floor of the guard room where the crime took place and said it is evidence of the manner in which the survivor fought back before surrendering.
“I just lay like a dead body,” she wrote in her complaint. The proof? Mishra’s phone. Codefendants Zaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukherjee—both law students—allegedly recorded the assault on the orders of Mishra, being careful, of course, to get the survivor’s face in the film. Those videos were forwarded to a cyber forensics lab in Salt Lake, Kolkata, for validation and show a narrative that contradicts Mishra’s assertions that he had “consensual sex” with the woman, who he claimed assaulted him after she rejected his pornographic marriage proposal.
CCTV images confirm what the victim told officers happened between 7.30pm and 10.50pm on Wednesday. Cameras revealed her fleeing to the main gate of the campus but getting pulled back to the guard room. The footage also caught the colour of Mishra’s kurta, which matched the kurta confiscated from his residence in Kalighat. Based on CCTV footage, investigative officials have tallied that there were 25 students on campus that day, and seven in the union room 10 minutes before the incident occurred.
Police have contacted the south Kolkata law college authorities to obtain the names, phone numbers and addresses of the 25 students. Mishra’s phone provided more than just the evidence of Wednesday’s assault. Investigative sources reveal that investigators uncovered what Mishra’s social circle already knew- a trove of manipulated photographs of female students, with their faces edited over pornographic images and which had been publicized on WhatsApp groups.
The nine-member SIT, under the chief of an officer of assistant commissioner rank, spent the entire Sunday at Pramit’s home, in Howrah, searching through his computer for further videos. The neighbours protested, but the team – including four added sub-inspectors including a woman officer – stuck around for two hours. What they found there, is yet to be revealed. Sources said a relative of the survivor’s family informed police they were satisfied with the investigation for now, and expect a speedy trial.
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