The elder sister of one of the main accused in the gang-rape case of a second-year medical student in Durgapur played a key role in helping police track down her brother, Safiq Sk, and secure his arrest early on Monday.
Rozina Sk said she wanted her brother to face the law. She accompanied the police to a spot beneath the Andal bridge in Durgapur, where Safiq had planned to meet her.
Another accused, Sk Nasiruddin, was also taken into custody on Monday. With these arrests, all five accused in the case are now in custody. The other three, Sk Riyazuddin, Apu Barui, and Firdaus Sk, were arrested on Sunday. Riyazuddin had worked as a guard at the private medical college where the survivor studies, though he had been dismissed five years ago.
"All five accused present at the scene of crime have been arrested. We assure the family and friends of the survivor that all accused will be brought to justice quickly. We are extremely pained and no perpetrator will be spared," Asansol-Durgapur police commissioner Sunil Chowdhury said on Monday.
The 23-year-old second-year MBBS student was allegedly gang-raped at a forested spot near the medical college campus shortly after she had stepped out with a classmate for dinner on Friday evening.
What did the sister say about her brother?
Rozina Sk said that her brother had acted rightly by surrendering. “Safiq was shaking with fear in the police vehicle, but I told him that turning himself in was the right thing. The family should not be shamed because of him. We may be poor, but we value self-respect. If he is guilty, he must face the consequences. If he is not, he will be let off. He had never misbehaved with any woman,” Rozina was quoted by The Times of India as saying.
She added that Safiq works at a rolling mill factory in Durgapur and has a wife and two young children. She expressed relief that police action would no longer bring repeated scrutiny and disrepute to her family.
She said police had asked for her cellphone on Saturday morning. "I was taken to the spot below the Andal bridge where Safiq said he would turn up. I got my phone back at noon today," she said.
Safiq and Nasiruddin, whose bike was allegedly used to escape the crime scene, were produced in the court of Durgapur judicial magistrate Rajib Sarkar. The Durgapur Bar Association decided that none of its members would represent the accused. Legal aid lawyer Pooja Kurmi filed a vakalatnama (an affidavit by an accused empowering a lawyer to defend him or her) for Safiq and Nasiruddin but did not seek bail. Both were remanded in police custody for nine days.
Nasiruddin had been a casual worker at the Durgapur Municipal Corporation, according to Mayor Anindita Mukherjee, who clarified he was hired through labour contractors. Investigators said they will request DNA profiling of the accused and the samples collected during the survivor’s medico-legal examination.
Once the survivor is ready, police will record her statement before a judicial magistrate and arrange a test identification parade.
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