Two arrested in Park Street rape case

The police on Saturday arrested two persons in connection with the rape of an Anglo-Indian woman at Park Street in Kolkata.

Sumit Bajaj and Rehman Khan alias Tusi, who masqueraded as Lavi Gidwani and some other persons whom the woman named, had befriended her at the night club, said Joint Police Commissioner, Crime, Damayanti Sen.

The police were looking for two other accused, whose identities have been established, she said.

The woman had stated that five people had allegedly raped her in a car at gunpoint and threatened her while she was returning from a nightclub. One of them, she had said, was Lavi Gidwani.

After investigations, the police found that Gidwani had been in Canada since January 2, while two others were found to be elsewhere. The police had then said that there were 'inconsistencies' in the woman's statement.

The woman, who is in her mid thirties and a mother of two children, had filed an FIR with the Park Street police station four days after the incident.

Sen said police collected the CCTV footage from the nightclub and spotted some persons around a car that night.

"However, the persons named in the FIR by the woman did not match with the CCTV footage and it was ascertained that the offenders were masquerading under other names to mislead the victim," she said.

Sumit Bajaj of Port area and Rehman Khan, a resident of north Kolkata, were arrested when they were going to Howrah station presumably to escape from the metropolis, Sen said.

Their car was also impounded, she said.

Sen said that the victim was questioned a number of times at the Lalbazar police headquarters for a breakthrough.

To a question about conducting medical tests on the victim, Sen said that the woman's statement was more important than any medical examination.

The victim had complained to the police very late, which had made a medical examination difficult, the JCP said.

To another question, she said that the police had some other suspects on its list.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had claimed that the incident was a 'fabricated story', intended to malign her government and blamed some TV channels for projecting it.

Commissioner of Kolkata Police R K Pachnanda had said there were attempts to criticise the police and the state government over the incident but the police were investigating it on a day-to-day basis "impartially and expeditiously".