Expressing satisfaction over the police investigation into the alleged gangrape of a medical student in Paschim Bardhaman district, Police Commissioner of Asansol-Durgapur Commissionerate Sunil Chowdhury on Tuesday said that they made the first arrests in the case within two days of the incident. Addressing a press conference before police made the sixth arrest in the case – the friend of the medical student, Chowdhury said: “After the complaint was filed, we immediately started the investigation. We secured the PO (place of occurrence) of the crime immediately. We are satisfied with the investigation. We had arrested the accused within two days.” The police have so far arrested six persons – five locals and a male friend of the woman student, who also studies in the same private medical college. Hours after the police had registered an FIR into the alleged gangrape on Saturday, they began search operations in the forested area surrounding the college campus, where the alleged crime took place. Drones were also used to search the area, and several people were detained. Sources in the police said that the breakthrough in the case came from tracking the mobile phone location. According to police sources, one of the accused had called the student or her friend, and by tracking the phone signal, they located the cellphone tower and arrested three persons on Sunday. With the father of the woman expressing apprehension over the police probe and demanding a CBI probe into the incident, Chowdhury said: “We are with the victim’s family, before, now, and in the future. The investigation report will be given to the family (of the woman student) by the court, but we are informing them verbally about the progress of the investigation. We are briefing them from time to time, and have assured them that the culprits will get stringent punishment.” He also offered to give security to the woman’s family, which hails from Odisha. “We are concerned about their safety and security. If they want personal security, we will provide them security,” said the police commissioner. Previously, the father of the woman student had expressed concern over her safety and security, stating that he would like to take his daughter back to Odisha because he didn’t feel she was safe in West Bengal. On Monday, a three-member team of a commission formed by the Odisha government also visited the victim and her parents at the hospital.
