Law student 'gangrape' pre-planned, accused trio targeted victim for quite some time: Police

NEW DELHI: Three out of the four persons arrested in connection with the alleged gang-rape of a female student at a city-based law college had pre-planned the assault, a police officer said on Monday. Sleuths of the nine-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the incident also found that the three accused — Monojit Mishra, Pratim Mukherjee and Zaid Ahmed — had a history of sexually harassing female students of the college.

The fourth accused is the college's security guard . 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 mobile videos allegedly filmed by the trio. "Searches were conducted at the residences of accused Mukherjee and Ahmed on Sunday. We are looking for footage related to this and possibly other incidents," the officer said. The investigators also said a video clip of the June 25 alleged gangrape might have been shared by the accused.

Over 25 students identified for questioning

"We are trying to find out whether those clips were forwarded or shared with some other groups. In that case, we have to get in touch with those who have received that," the officer said. The SIT has prepared a list of over 25 people, mostly students of South Calcutta Law College, who were present at the educational 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. A female student of South Calcutta Law College in the city's Kasba area was allegedly gangraped by three persons , including an alumnus of the educational institution and two current students.