Court summons govt officials in Durgapur rape case, bail pleas rejected

The Block Land & Land Reforms Officer, the Assistant Regional Transport Officer and one online quick-commerce platform were summoned by the Special Additional District Judge (Session)’s Court Lokesh Pathak today to appear as witnesses of the Durgapur medical student’s alleged gang rape case.

After the charges against the six accused were framed late this afternoon, Special Public Prosecutor Bivas Chatterjee put forward a list of 21 witnesses to be produced in the court during hearings of the case. On the first day, scheduled on 19 November, Chatterjee sought the presence of the BLLRO, the ARTO and the online company as witnesses. The ARTO and the BLLRO have been listed to clarify the names of the owners of the motorcycles seized by the police from the accused and the land officer to clarify the nature of the land where the incident occurred, which is a peri-urban forest.

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The medical student hailing from Jaleswar, Odisha, was allegedly gang raped while she had gone to the forest a km away from her campus with her classmate Wasif Ali on 10 October after 9 pm. The New Township Police Station filed the charge-sheet on 30 October. Defence Counsel Sekhar Kundu, appearing for Wasif, besides moving a bail petition, also demanded the CCTV footage of 7 October of the IQ City Medical College that he claimed was very important to establish Wasif’s innocence.