Kolkata, 3 July (H.S.): In a significant development in the Kasba gangrape case, police investigations have revealed that the main accused, Manojeet Mishra, allegedly attempted to suppress the matter by instructing a female member of his gang to call the survivor and dissuade her from filing a complaint.

According to police sources, the survivor did not respond to the phone call and went on to lodge a complaint at the Kasba police station on June 26. The case, initially handled by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), has now been transferred to the Detective Department at Lalbazar for further probe.

Investigators have questioned the female gang member who made the call, reportedly at Manojeet’s behest, as part of an attempt to “settle” the case. The woman, a part of Manojeet's group known as the Gang of Eight, is among several individuals who have been interrogated so far.

Two more members of the group, identified as GP and RN, were also grilled on Wednesday. Previous investigations had revealed that Manojeet had deployed his associates, Zaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukhopadhyay, to monitor the Kasba police station premises to check whether the survivor had filed a complaint.

Tower location data has shown that Manojeet and Zaib were present near Fern Road in Ballygunge — where a prominent Trinamool Congress MLA resides — at around 6:25 PM on June 26, just an hour before their arrest in the Bosepukur area of Kasba. Police are now probing whom they may have met at the location and whether any attempt was made to seek political help.

Initially, the trio was booked under three sections of the Indian Penal Code, but police have now added six more serious charges. These include kidnapping, grievous assault, criminal intimidation, and illegal video recording of a woman’s private moments. At least three of the newly added sections are non-bailable.

Given the cybercrime aspects involved, cyber law expert Advocate Vibhas Chattopadhyay has been appointed as a special public prosecutor in the case. So far, police have questioned at least sixteen individuals and recorded their statements.

During a search of the college campus, investigators recovered a bedsheet, which has been sent for forensic analysis. The survivor had earlier stated that after the assault, the accused left her in the college’s guard room, from where she managed to retrieve her phone and exit the premises.

CCTV footage confirms that both the survivor and the accused exited the campus separately after 10:50 PM on the night of the incident.

Police have stated that Manojeet has been attempting to mislead the investigation. However, with access to his call records, tower location data, and testimonies from other accused, investigators are working to establish the complete chain of events and identify all those involved.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh