Kolkata: Monojit 'Mango' Mishra, prime accused in the Kolkata law college rape case, has told police that he believed that the threat to circulate the sex assault video would stop the 24-year-old survivor from approaching cops.
The crime took place on the evening of June 25. The survivor has said in her complaint that she asked her father to pick her up after the horrifying crime. Shortly after, Monojit and co-accused Pramit Mukhopadhyay and Zaib Ahmed left the campus. According to top sources in Kolkata Police, Monojit had asked some friends to keep an eye on the Kasba Police Station -- about a kilometre from the college -- to see if the survivor registers a complaint.
The next day, Monojit called up a college staff and asked if the police had visited the campus. When he realised the cops were after him, he called up his lawyer friends and college seniors and asked for help, but no one intervened, sources have said.
On the evening of June 26, Monojit and Zaib met at Fern Road near Ballygunge Railway Station, about 1.5 km from the college campus. Police tracked them down and arrested them later that evening. Pramit was arrested at his home that night.
According to sources, Monojit told police that Pramit and Zaib shot videos of him raping the survivor and they were sure that she won't file a police complaint out of the fear that he may circulate the video. The investigation has also revealed that the survivor was in Monojit's crosshairs since the day she joined college. An alumnus and former head of the Trinamool Congress youth wing on campus, Monojit had joined the college as a contractual employee. Called 'Mango' by his cronies, he used his political connections to wield influence on campus.
Zaib and Pramit have told the police that the survivor rebuffed Monojit's advances earlier and he wanted to "teach her a lesson". He offered her the post of the college union's general secretary - a "final bait" - before planning the June 25 assault. Interestingly, this post was offered despite there being no official students' body on campus for years.
"Zaib and Pramit said that at least two days before the crime, Monojit informed them that the survivor would be on campus to submit an exam form. They were instructed to keep her there until evening," a source said, according to a report in The Times of India.
Police have found key evidence near the crime scene. The rape was committed in a room used by the college's security guard. Items from the room, such as the bed sheet, are being sent for forensic examination. Police have said Monojit has 11 past cases against him, many of them relating to harassing and misbehaving with women. He was out on bail in these cases.
