CBI starts probe, victim’s father says accused took away body at gunpoint
The father of a 14-yearold girl, who died after she was allegedly gang-raped in West Bengal’s Nadia district last week, on Wednesday alleged his daughter’s body was taken away for cremation at gunpoint by the prime accused, even as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered its first FIR in the case.
The son of a Trinamool Congress (TMC) panchayat member Samarendra Gayali, Brajagopal, is the main accused in the alleged incident which has triggered a political furore across the state. “Brajagopal Gayali held a gun to my chest and took away my daughter’s body to cremate her within an hour of her death. They did not even let me leave the house,” the victim’s father told a news channel.
Brajagopal was arrested on April 10, a day after the girl’s family registered a complaint, accusing him of rape.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked the ruling party over the allegation made by the victim’s father.
“This is the actual state of
affairs in Bengal. A rape victim’s body is cremated by the accused while the father is held at gun point. No wonder people in the districts live in constant fear,” state BJ chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya told HT.
Hitting back, TMC national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said: “I want to ask a question since the TMC’S name is being dragged into this case for political reasons. Did the victim’s father say that TMC workers forcefully cremated the body? Or, did he say that he faced a threat from the police or the TMC? The accused is Brajagopal who was arrested and charged under appropriate sections of the Indian Penal Code by the local police. He is not a TMC worker.”
According to police, the girl, a Class 9 student in Hanskhali, had gone for a birthday party hosted by Brajagopal on April 4 and returned home, unwell. She died the following morning reportedly due to excessive bleeding and was cremated in the village crematorium without any post-mortem or death certificate. On April 9, the girl’s family
registered a complaint against the TMC leader’s son, following which Brajagopal was arrested and booked for rape, murder and tampering of evidence.
On Monday, the incident sparked a political storm after chief minister Mamata Banerjee appeared to dismiss it as a “love affair”. Brajagopal’s friend, Prabhakar Poddar, who was present at the party, was arrested on Tuesday. Police booked the two accused on charges of gang rape, a district police officer said. They were also booked under POCSO Act. On Tuesday, the Calcutta high court directed the CBI to take over the probe from the state police. “The central agency wrote to Nadia SP, seeking a copy of the FIR the police at Hanskhali, where the alleged incident took place, had registered,” a CBI official said.