A 20-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped by two of her acquaintances on her birthday in an upscale locality in Kolkata, police said on Sunday.
The incident took place in Regent Park area in the southern outskirts of the city on Friday. The two accused, who went missing after the crime, were identified as Chandan Malik and Deep. Deep is reportedly a government employee.
According to police sources, the survivor from Haridevpur alleged the assault took place when Chandan took her to Deep’s house on the pretext of celebrating her birthday.
“The woman’s birthday was on Friday. On that occasion, the accused Chandan and Deep took the victim to the latter’s flat. There, they had a meal. She said when she wanted to return home, the accused stopped her. They allegedly locked the door and gang-raped her,” one of the police sources said.
It was only at around 10.30am on Saturday that the survivor managed to escape, the source added.
After returning home, she informed her family members about the incident, following which a First Information Report (FIR) was registered under relevant sections on Saturday.
“We have started a search for the accused who are absconding,” the officer said.
In her complaint, the woman also said she was introduced to Chandan several months ago. He introduced himself as the head of a large Durga Puja committee in south Kolkata. Through him, the survivor was introduced to Deep, and the trio were in touch with one another.
The two accused promised to get her involved in the puja committee, she said in her complaint.
The incident is the latest in a series of crimes against women in the city that is considered to be the safest for women in the country, as per latest National Crime Records Bureau Data.
A law student was allegedly raped on the South Calcutta Law College campus on June 25. Monojit Mishra, an alumnus of the college, is the prime accused in the case and was later arrested. He was a former Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) unit president of the college. The TMCP had maintained that it had no association with Mishra for the past two years.
The incidents also follow last year’s rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital that had triggered nationwide protests. The accused, Sanjay Roy, who is a former civic police volunteer, was awarded life imprisonment by a local court earlier this year.
