CID reconstructs crime scene, stuck on motive
PROBE Accused stole money from building, forced entry into convent before raping nun
KOLKATA: Detectives of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have found that the men who sexually assaulted an elderly nun in Ranaghat, West Bengal, last week first gained entry into the Convent of Jesus and Mary’s administrative building after prising open a window.
There, they broke open a safe and stole about `12 lakh in cash. They then moved to an adjacent building where the nuns lived. They took the convent’s security guard with them and forced him, at gunpoint, to call out to them.
As soon as a nun opened the gate, the culprits entered the building and moved to the first floor. “Who is the senior-most here?” they asked. Once the mother superior was identified, some of the eight-suspected assailants took her to a room where she was raped.
They also tied up the other two nuns, including the principal of the school, and locked them in a room and warned them not to raise an alarm.
They then moved downstairs where they entered the kitchen and ate food they found in a refrigerator. They kept the guard with him while they waited for over an hour before exiting the campus through the main gate.
According to CCTV footage, the culprits entered the campus at 1.40 am. The last images of them were captured at 4.46 am. CCTV cameras were placed at several spots in the campus — including outside the nuns’ quarters. The culprits smashed some of the cameras but seem to have missed the one in the kitchen, which provided the footage released by the police.
CID sleuths, who are baffled at the motive of the crime, said that the suspects stuck together. One of the culprits could not be seen in the footage as he remained behind the gang, issuing instructions to the rest. ESCAPE TO BANGLADESH THEORY GAINING GROUND KOLKATA: CID sleuths are gradually veering towards the hypothesis that the culprits have fled to Bangladesh through the porous border. Ranaghat is about 40-50 km away from the Bangladesh border, and there are train links from Ranaghat station, which is a 10-minute walk from the convent, to border towns like Bongaon and Gede. “The suspicion that the suspects might have escaped to Bangladesh is creeping up fast (sic). We have virtually scanned the entire state... and have drawn a blank,” said a CID officer. CID officers are now collecting information of criminals in areas near the Indo-Bangladesh border.