Kolkata: The DNA samples of the three accused in the gang rape of a student of a law college in Kolkata were collected on Monday as a part of the investigation of the crime, a police officer said.
The police also suspect that the torture of the 24-year-old woman was pre-planned.
The three arrested accused – alumnus Monojit Mishra and current students Pratim Mukherjee and Zaid Ahmed – were taken to the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, where their body fluid, urine and hair samples were collected for forensic examination, he said.
The first-year student of South Calcutta Law College in the city’s Kasba area was gang-raped allegedly by the three on the evening of June 25.
A team of doctors extracted the samples from the accused, and the process lasted for nearly eight hours and was sent to the forensic examination, he said.
“After Saturday, it was the second day on Monday when the three were taken to the hospital. On Saturday, doctors checked their nails and their bodies for any injury marks,” the police officer said.
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Police also sent the materials seized from the crime spot — the union room, guard’s room and the bathroom — for forensic examination as part of the probe into the matter, the IPS officer said.
They also sent the 1.5-minute-long video clip of the torture of the rape survivor for a forensic test.
“The video clip was seized from the mobile phone of the prime accused (Mishra). We are trying to find out whether the clip was forwarded to others. In that case, we have to get in touch with those who have received that,” the officer said.
The assault on the woman was planned earlier by three out of the four arrested accused, the police officer said.
The fourth arrested person is a security guard of the institution.
Sleuths of the nine-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the incident also found that Mishra, Mukherjee and Ahmed had a history of sexually harassing female students of the college.
According to the officer, the trio would record such episodes on their mobile phones and later use the footage to blackmail the victims.
“The entire matter was premeditated. The trio had been plotting for several days to carry out this torture on the victim. We have found that the victim was targeted by the prime accused from the very first day she got admission to the college,” the police officer said.
Kolkata Police has launched a search for videos allegedly filmed on mobile phones by the accused.
The SIT has prepared a list of over 25 people, mostly students of South Calcutta Law College, who were present at the institution on June 25 evening, he said.
“All these people will be questioned in connection with the investigation. We have to find out what they witnessed that evening,” he said.
Meanwhile, the state education department on Monday recommended suspension of Mishra from the position he was holding as a contractual employee of the South Calcutta Law College, an official said.
