CID Probe Into Police Encounter of Accused in WB

Kolkata: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police has taken over the investigation into the death of Prabhas Mondal, one of the key accused in the Baruipur gang rape and murder case, following a police encounter in police custody in South 24 Parganas on Wednesday, days after his arrest.

The state government on Thursday entrusted the investigation to the state detective agency as the Baruipur district police had no authority to conduct the investigation as the encounter took place within its jurisdiction. The CID investigation also comes amid a judicial investigation into extrajudicial killings.

It will cover the series of events that led to the police encounter during the reconstruction of the crime. Meanwhile, in a bid to beef up security, police have started searching for land to set up a police station in Surjyapur, where the girl was gang-raped and murdered. Local citizens had also voiced the demand before.

In another development, after the lynching of an innocent young man on suspicion of committing a crime against a 12-year-old girl, the blockade of roads and railways, and the violent attacks on the police and the surrounding railways, the police arrested 22 more people by Thursday morning.

With the new arrests, the number of detained defendants in three cases other than gang rape and murder has increased to 40 so far.