Kolkata woman gang-raped during her birthday party, police search for accused

Kolkata, Sep 7
A young woman in Kolkata has filed a complaint of gang-rape during her birthday party against two of her acquaintances, said police on Sunday.

The Kolkata Police said they have received a complaint of gang-rape from the Haridevpur area in the southern outskirts of the state capital city. According to the police, the complaint was lodged late Saturday night at Haridevpur Police Station.

Based on the complaint, the police have registered an FIR under relevant sections and started a search for the accused persons. The alleged incident took place on Friday. However, a complaint was lodged on Saturday night.

The police said the 20-year-old woman is a resident of the Haridevpur police station area.

As per the complaint, several months ago, she 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. After returning home, the young woman told her family members about the incident, following which she filed a complaint against the two at the police station.

A senior officer of Kolkata Police said, "The woman's birthday was on Friday, September 5. On that occasion, the accused Chandan and Deep took the victim to a flat in the Regent's Park area in south Kolkata. There, they had a meal. It is alleged that when the girl wanted to return home, the accused stopped her. Then, it is alleged that they locked the door and gang-raped her. After the torture, the woman somehow managed to leave the flat and return home."

"A complaint was lodged, and an FIR has been registered accordingly. We have started a search for the accused," the police officer said.