Kolkata:
Nine days after a woman in Kolkata filed a police complaint that she had been raped in a car at gunpoint on the night of February 5, a breakthrough has been made in the case. The Kolkata police have arrested three people, including Nishad Alam, 25, and Sumit Bajaj, 21, who have reportedly admitted to their involvement in the crime.
The breakthrough came after police studied CCTV footage of the parking lot of the hotel where the woman is seen with four men getting into a car which was identified as belonging to Sumit Bajaj.
The hunt is on for at least two others involved in the crime, including the rapist. The arrested men will be produced in court today.
The victim had said she was offered a lift by a man who she had met at the night club. Initially, there were two men in the car. But when she got into the back seat, three other men got in. While one man assaulted her, the others allegedly held her down, she claimed. When she tried to raise an alarm, the men hit her and threatened her with a gun, she added. She said she was later thrown out of the car.
According to the police, the culprits used false names when they met the 37-year-old woman at the night club on Park Street. Nishad Alam had introduced himself to the victim as Luvi Gidwani. Two others had introduced themselves at Sharafat Ali and Azhar Ali.
When the police tried to track the names down, they found Luvi Gidwani had moved to Canada on 1st January and mobile phone records of Sharafat Ali and Azhar Ali showed they were not at the place of occurrence of the crime.
Police also say the two men arrested on Saturday were acquainted with Luvi Gidwani, Sharafat Ali and Azhar Ali and had falsely used their names.
The arrests come a day after chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that the entire incident was created or fabricated to malign her government.
The chief minister's comments coincided with the Kolkata police's claim that there were some "inconsistencies" in the case. The police said investigations were on to "find the truth".
While the incident happened on the night of February 5, the woman first went to the police station on February 9. She says she was traumatised and in shock.