Matigara, Siliguri: Days after the blood-soaked body of a minor student was discovered in a vacant plot in West Bengal’s Siliguri, the area remains on the boil with political parties writing to state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to ensure a speedy trial in the case, and others clamouring for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.
West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose, who visited the victim’s family Sunday, told the gathered media, “Today God will hang his head in shame because a ghastly murder has taken place here. The mother, who alone understands the pain [she is in], has told me [that] maybe because this area is located near the international border so it has become [a] den of crime and drug trafficking”.
He added: “It [the incident] was an eye-opener. Let us not play politics with dead body. I am not here for blame game.”
Twenty-two-year-old Md. Abbas, who has been accused of murdering the victim, was arrested by police within hours of the body being found and will be in police custody till 31 August, Abhishek Gupta, deputy commissioner of police, Siliguri Police Commissionerate had told the media last week.
He was produced in a civil & criminal Court in Siliguri on 22 August, when the police were granted custody.
While the first FIR against him, registered on the very day that the body was found, was filed under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Section 376A (for rape or inflicting injury which causes death) was added later, police sources told ThePrint.
“We will file a chargesheet in the case soon. We have taken statements of witnesses, examined CCTV footage and gathered scientific evidence. Forensic reports are awaited, we have the post-mortem report. The matter is sensitive, and we are investigating all aspects,” said a senior police official of Siliguri Police Commissionerate.
Police sources also told ThePrint that the accused has “confessed to the crime”, but claimed he was being interrogated daily because he was continuously “altering his statements”.
Police sources associated with the probe also said that the motive for the alleged crime is still being probed, but claimed that the victim and the accused knew each other.
According to the sources, Abbas did odd jobs and doesn’t have any past criminal records. He is married and has a daughter.
Purported CCTV footage of the area from where the body was recovered, and the surroundings, appeared to have shown the victim sitting behind the accused’s bicycle near City Centre Mall in Siliguri on the day that she was found dead. It was based on this that Abbas was arrested, said police sources.
“The postmortem report doesn’t state sexual assault but there seems to be medical indication that there was intercourse. We are waiting for more forensic reports,” said one source.
The accused’s mother has reportedly told the media that her son “should be punished for the crime has [allegedly] committed”.
The body of the victim, a student of class 11 at a school in Matigara, Siliguri, was found around 5 PM on 21 August in a gated vacant plot in a residential area of the town in Darjeeling district, a stone’s throw away from the Matigara Police Station. The victim was dressed in her school uniform at the time of the discovery of the body. The clothes were soaked in blood when the body was found.
Police sources told ThePrint that they were alerted by some people who reported a possible crime in the area after purportedly hearing screams.
Talking about the moment when he was asked to identify his daughter’s body, the victim’s father told ThePrint, “Her face was smashed, I recognised her from the bangle in her hand”.
Also read: How a 15-yr-old spent 5 yrs on death row for rape-murder before being released by Supreme Court
‘Can’t believe I have lost her forever’
Those who knew the victim, describe her as a “polite” girl, who never gave any trouble.
“She would wake up on time, clean the house, go to school and return on time. She was a decent student, who wanted to be a fashion designer. My daughter had dreams,” said the victim’s mother, speaking to ThePrint Monday.
The single-story family home in Matigara has been engulfed in a pall of grief ever since the minor’s body was discovered a week ago. A steady stream of sympathetic visitors and leaders from across party lines have been making their way to the house since.
“I got a call from the police around 5.30 pm to come to the thana [police station], then I was taken to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital [to identify the body],” recalled her father. The couple are also parents to a son, younger than the daughter they lost.
According to police sources, they identified the victim’s family from the school diary that was inside the school bag they found with the body.
At her school, one of the teachers recalled the deceased as a quiet student.
“She has been studying in this school since class 5. She was a premature baby, so she was slightly slow in learning. But very polite, had only two-three friends and never gave any trouble,” said the teacher.
According to the school headmaster, police have spoken to staff and students at the school, including him, as part of the probe.
“Since she was dressed in the school uniform [when the body was found] the police checked her school bag [for identity] and [then] called me. That’s when I found out about the incident,” the headmaster told ThePrint.
Protests & shutdown
On Saturday, shops remained closed and vehicles remained off the road, after several political parties called for a bandh in protest against the incident.
On 24 August, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Darjeeling MP Raju Bista, wrote to the West Bengal governor, seeking a CBI probe into the matter. In his letter, seen by ThePrint, he alleged, “today criminals feel safer and protected under TMC [the ruling Trinamool Congress]. TMC has turned West Bengal into a safe haven for criminals and illegal immigrants.”
Two days later, Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatrantik Morcha leader Anit Thapa, in a letter addressed to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, reportedly urged her to ensure trial in the case in a special court, to deliver justice to the family within six months.
Meanwhile, Hamro Party chief Ajoy Edwards too has demanded stringent action against the culprit, but refused to give it a “communal colour”.
Hindutva group Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) too has joined the protest against the incident, calling for a bandh Wednesday, and along with Durga Vahini took out a rally last week to protest the death of the minor.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)