A 24-year-old girl, who performs at a bar on VIP road which connects to the airport, was gang-raped allegedly by four to five persons at Salt Lake's Sector-V in a moving vehicle late last night, rekindling memories of the notorious Park Street gang-rape of 2012.
The girl, who had gone to a multiplex at Sector-V to meet a friend, was waiting on the road for transport when a man approached her and asked her if she was looking for someone. The girl then asked for direction to an address, police said.
Soon after, the man then called up someone and before long an SUV emerged with three to four persons on board. As the girl got into the car, her co-passengers soon began 'assaulting' her. They allegedly raped her by taking turns in the moving vehicle.
The girl was dumped on the roadside in an unconscious state at Sector-1 in Salt lake. She was rescued by a mobile unit of the police in the early hours today after a taxi driver drew its attention, officials of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate said.
An FIR was lodged with the Electronic Complex Police Station under Salt Lake Sector-V against four to five unknown persons on the basis of her statement given to the police alleging gang-rape.
The DC, DD, Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, Kankar Prasad Barui said they have received the complaint and an investigation is on.
A massive raid is on to nab the culprits, he said, adding, till now there was no arrest.
The police officer said Kader had fled to Mumbai the day
after the incident and never returned to the city. He had, however, not left the country, according to the preliminary probe.
"Kader had straightaway moved to Mumbai and thereafter to Bihar and then to relatives in several places and cities in different states. He used to move in trains on general tickets... He had zero public life," the officer elaborated, adding that the accused has a very big family and relatives staying in almost every state of north India.
The duo (Kader and Ali) had been staying at their relatives' places in different cities for the past four years but never at one place for more than 10-15 days. "This was the reason why they had managed to hide for such a long time after the incident," he said.
Police had created a list of Kader's relatives in different cities and had started monitoring them and eliminated around 20 from it. They had zeroed in on Delhi where his sister stays.
In fact the duo did not use any mobile phones and were also not active on any social network and therefore remained untraced.
"He (Kader) also had no direct contact with his family," the officer said, adding the man, who is in his mid-30s, had grown a beard to change his looks and was yet unmarried.
Ali was, however, married with two children, he said.
A few days after the incident the victim had filed her complaint but West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had termed it as a "fabricated" case triggering a controversy.
Damayanti Sen, the then Kolkata Police Joint Commissioner (crime), had pursued the case and identified the five accused. She was later shunted out from her post.
Three of the five accused were arrested while two including prime accused Kader Khan absconded.
Nine months after the victim died of meningitis in March 2015, the city sessions court had convicted the accused - Ruman Khan, Naser Khan and Sumit Bajaj - and sentenced them to 10 years rigorous imprisonment.
