A security guard of a law college here was arrested on Saturday in connection with the alleged gang rape of a first-year student of the institute earlier this week, even as the Kolkata Police formed a SIT to probe the case, amidst intensifying public protests over the incident.
The total number of arrests has now reached four in the crime that took place inside the guard's room on the South Calcutta Law College premises on June 25, an officer said.
The complainant was taken to the college on Saturday to reconstruct the crime, he said.
The city police formed a five-member special investigation team (SIT), led by an assistant commissioner rank officer, to probe the case, even as outrage over the incident continued to grow.
The college guard, who was detained by the police for questioning, was arrested later, the officer said.
"The security guard was arrested this morning after we found that his replies were incoherent. His presence at the college has been captured in the CCTV installed on the college premises," he said.
The guard failed to carry out his duty, the officer said, adding that the police were trying to find out whether he was alone on duty at that time or not.
The 24-year-old victim of the South Calcutta Law College was allegedly raped by two senior students and an alumnus of the institute in the guard's room on June 25.
Following her complaint, the police arrested prime accused Manojit Mishra, Promit Mukherjee and Zaid Ahmed.
"The student was taken to the college during the day for reconstruction of the crime. The exercise was videographed, and it lasted for over two hours, the officer told PTI.
The Kolkata Police has formed the five-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe into the alleged gang rape of the student, another officer said.
"The SIT will start its investigation immediately," he said.
The police suspected that the law college student was gang-raped since she turned down the marriage proposal of the main accused, another officer said.
The police were also trying to find out whether the entire crime was pre-planned or not, he said.
CCTV footage obtained from the college has corroborated the gang rape allegations made by the student in her written complaint to the police, an investigating officer said on Saturday.
The footage, spanning over seven hours - from 3.30 PM to 10.50 PM on June 25 - captured movements around the college premises, including the victim being forced into the guard's room.
"The CCTV footage confirms the girl's allegations. It shows the movements of the three accused, the security guard, and the victim. We are currently examining the footage," the officer said.
Meanwhile, the state witnessed several protests over the alleged gang rape incident.
The police stopped a BJP rally led by Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar and detained him along with several other party leaders when they tried to take out the protest march to the law college in the city, another officer said.
The protest march was not allowed to proceed towards the South Calcutta Law College, where the student was allegedly gang-raped.
"The rally was stopped at Gariahat crossing in south Kolkata, and Majumdar and several other BJP leaders were detained. They were taken to the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar," the senior officer said.
The 3-km protest march was planned by the BJP from the Gairahat crossing to the South Calcutta Law College in the Kasba area.
Meanwhile, BJP president J P Nadda has formed a four-member committee which will visit the state to investigate the matter and submit its findings, the party's national spokesperson Sambit Patra said.
Biplab Kumar Deb and Manan Kumar Mishra, both MPs, and Satyapal Singh and Meenakshi Lekhi, both former parliamentarians, are its members.
The BJP in New Delhi said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should apologise and offer to resign over the alleged gang rape of the law college student in Kolkata, claiming that all the accused were linked to the ruling Trinamool Congress.
Majumdar alleged that there is "no security for women and they are not at all safe in Bengal".
"We were here to protest against the rising number of crimes against women. The police did not allow us to hold the rally. The chief minister must take responsibility for the gang rape incident," the union minister said in Kolkata.
He alleged that police personnel act like Trinamool Congress workers.
Senior Trinamool Congress leader and party MLA Madan Mitra said that the incident of gang rape would not have happened if the girl had taken a couple of friends with her.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
