Odia MBBS student gangrape in Durgapur: Victim's boyfriend arrested

In a major development on the alleged gang-rape of the second-year medical student from Odisha near a private medical college in Durgapur in Paschim Bardhaman district of West Bengal, the victim's boyfriend has been arrested, the Police confirmed on Tuesday.

This is reportedly the sixth arrest in connection with the heinous crime. Earlier, the police had arrested as many as five persons in connection with the case, including a former college security guard, a hospital staffer, a civic worker, and an unemployed man.

Earlier, police had revealed that the victim’s boyfriend, who was present at the scene apart from the five accused, was also under scrutiny. 

Meanwhile, Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissioner Sunil Kumar Choudhary stated that based on the technical and scientific evidence collected so far and the statement of the victim, it has been established that physical sexual assault was committed by one of the accused persons. The involvement of the remaining accused is under investigation.
 
Choudhary further said that five accused persons have been arrested so far, after their presence at the scene of the crime was confirmed through investigation.

According to Choudhary, police have also recovered a mobile phone allegedly snatched by the accused. Key steps in the investigation, including reconstruction of the crime scene, collection of technical and scientific evidence, forensic examination (FSL visit), seizure of clothing, and medico-legal tests of the accused, have been completed. Reports from the forensic and medical examinations are currently awaited.

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"Till now, we have arrested 5 accused persons whose presence has been established at the place of occurrence on the day of the crime. We have also recovered a mobile phone which was snatched by the accused persons. All the important parts in the investigation, including reconstruction of the scene of the crime, gathering technical and scientific evidence, visit of FSL for collection of evidence, seizure of wearing apparel, and medico-legal examination of the accused persons, have been done. The reports are still awaited," said Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissioner Sunil Kumar Choudhary.

"Till now, as per the technical and scientific evidence collected and statement of the victim girl, we have found that physical sexual assault has been committed by one of the accused persons and what is the involvement of all these 5 are being investigated. The friend of victim girl who was also present at the PO, apart from these 5 accused persons, his role is also not beyond doubt. We are investigating his role also. We have examined him several times," he added.