Kolkata, Sep 10 (IANS) Chandan Malik, the main accused in the Haridevpur gang-rape case, has been arrested. Kolkata Police nabbed him from Burdwan railway station early on Wednesday morning.
The second accused Debanshu Basak alias Deep is absconding. Chandan Malik will be produced in Alipore court on Wednesday where the police will seek his custody.
According to police, the accused planned to flee to another state by taking a train.
Both the accused had been hiding since the complaint was filed with Haridevpur Police Station in Kolkata.
Despite searches at various places in the city, police could not find them. Finally, on receiving information from a confidential source, the police conducted a raid on Tuesday night and arrested Chandan from Burdwan station in the wee hours of Wednesday.
“We have arrested the main accused. Search is on for the other accused in the case. Investigation is on,” said a senior officer of Kolkata Police.
On Saturday night, a young woman from the Haridevpur area accused two acquaintances of gang-raping her during her birthday party. According to officials, the alleged incident took place on Friday, but a formal complaint was lodged late on Saturday night at the Haridevpur Police Station.
Based on the complaint, the police registered an FIR under relevant sections and started a search for the accused persons.
As per the complaint, several months ago, the 20-year-old was introduced to a man named Chandan Mallick. The man introduced himself as the head of a large Durga Puja committee in south Kolkata. Through him, the young woman was introduced to another young man named Deep. The two of them promised to get the young woman involved in the puja committee.
It is learnt that they used to talk frequently with the young woman.
According to police sources, one of the accused on Friday called the young woman to celebrate her birthday and took her to the house of the other accused. There, she was gang-raped. The victim went home and narrated the entire incident to family members, who then took her to the police station to lodge a complaint on Saturday.
–IANS
sch/rad