Durgapur Sexual Assault: Police Rule Out 'Gang-Rape', Survivor's Male Friend Arrested

Durgapur: Four days after a second-year girl student of a private medical college in West Bengal's Durgapur was allegedly sexually assaulted, police have ruled out gang-rape, stating that one of the arrested accused raped the medical student.

On Tuesday, the number of arrestees in the case rose to six, after police arrested the survivor's batchmate and male friend Wasif Ali, shortly after Asansol-Durgapur Commissioner Sunil Kumar Chowdhury held a press conference in the evening.

Among those arrested so far in the rape case, one of them raped her, said Chowdhury earlier at the presser. He, however, did not yet clarify who the main culprit is.

The Commissioner said investigating officials are probing the role of all those present at the crime scene. "As per the technical and scientific evidence collected and statement of the survivor, we have found that physical sexual assault has been committed by one of the accused persons. The role of others is under investigation," he said.

"The clothes of all accused that they were wearing on the day of the incident, along with the clothes of the girl student and her classmate, have been sent for forensic test. Several other test reports are awaited. We are not leaving the student's classmate outside the scope of suspicion either," he added.

Within an hour after this, police arrested the survivor's friend Wasif Ali.

Prior to this, Police had arrested five other accused including Apu Bauri, Sheikh Firdous, Sheikh Riazuddin, Sheikh Nasiruddin and Sheikh Shafiqul, on the basis of complaint lodged at New Township Police Station and Durgapur Police Station.

All of them were arrested from Bijra near the private medical college. On Tuesday, the Durgapur Subdivisional Court sent all five to 10-day police custody.

Police have also recorded the survivor's statement and took all the accused to Paranganj forests to reconstruct the crime scene.

Later, Police Commissioner Sunil Chowdhury said the role of the survivor's classmate is also under scanner. "We had gone to the spot with the survivor's friend to reconstruct the incident. The entire process has been videographed. We are standing with the survivor's family," the Commissioner said.

Police sources said that the survivor was in a relationship with Wasif Ali, a resident of Kaliachak in Malda, for the last five months, and both are second-year medical students.

Meanwhile, officials have retrieved CCTV footage from last Friday, which shows Wasif Ali leaving the college gate with the survivor, later returning towards Bijra village, then moving towards the medical college gate, standing there for some time, and finally taking the Mohun Bagan Avenue road.

Commissioner Chowdhury reiterated, "The classmate is under suspicion. The clothes worn by him on Friday have been sent for forensic examination. Reports are awaited."

The survivor's father, a resident of Jaleswar in Odisha, had said, at around 10 PM last Friday, he received a call from a student who said that his daughter has been gang-raped. He said his daughter was taken out of the college campus for food by one of her classmates (Wasif Ali). When the accused surrounded her, the classmate fled, leaving her alone with the perpetrators.

The girl's mother said her daughter did not want to go out of the campus that day, but her classmate insisted on taking her out on the pretext of a walk.

Police said Wasif Ali will be produced before the court on Wednesday.

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