Gangrape case: Accused in 13-day police custody

The 13 persons accused of the horrific gang-rape of a tribal girl on the orders of a kangaroo court in Birbhum district were today remanded to police custody for 13 days after the police made a fresh plea to the court.
Sub divisional Chief Judicial Magistrate Pijush Ghosh remanded the 13, including the 'morol' (community chief) Balai Murdy to police custody, a day after they were remanded to 14-day judicial custody.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Phiroj Pal said police sought their remand since the rope with which the girl and her paramour were tied to a tree and beaten and the clothes they were wearing at the time of the incident on January 21 at Labhpur were not found.

The remand was also sought for securing other evidence, Pal said.
The 20-year-old girl was gang-raped at the behest of the kangaroo court when she expressed her inability to pay the Rs 50,000 demanded as fine.
The fault of the girl was falling in love with a man from another community.

The police took three of the 13 accused to the crime scene at Labhpur, 200 km from Kolkata, minutes after they were granted police custody by the court.
"We took three of the 13 accused persons to the spot where the gang-rape was committed and tried to reconstruct the crime scene," IG (Western Range) Siddhinath Gupta told PTI.

A high-level forensic team will also visit the crime scene tomorrow to collect samples.
A police picket has also been put up in the village to prevent any tampering of evidence or intimidatation of witnesses.