The male classmate who accompanied the Durgapur rape survivor on the night of the assault has been taken into custody after police gathered multiple pieces of evidence implicating him in the crime. This arrest brings the total number of people detained in connection with the case to six. The West Bengal Police apprehended Wasif Ali, the classmate of the medical student, on Tuesday. According to the survivor's complaint, Ali, who is the prime accused, sexually assaulted her after she went out with him for dinner.
The 23-year-old medical student, originally from Jaleswar in Odisha, was allegedly dragged into a forested area near her college on Friday night, where she was threatened and raped. The survivor's father had also named Ali in a formal complaint. Ali is scheduled to be presented before the court the following morning. The survivor had returned to the hostel with Ali after the incident, and he had been under police scrutiny from the very beginning, undergoing questioning over the last four days.
This case has already seen five other arrests before Ali's detention. The police confirmed that their decision to arrest him came after a team, accompanied by the survivor, revisited the crime scene and collected substantial evidence linking him to the assault. Among the six people arrested so far, one is a former college security guard, another is employed at a hospital, one works temporarily with the local civic body, and another is currently unemployed.
Authorities have clarified that gang-rape has been ruled out, with only one individual responsible for sexually assaulting the student. Sunil Kumar Chowdhury, Police Commissioner of the Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate, stated that the survivor’s account, along with supporting physical evidence, confirmed that the assault was carried out by a single person. The investigation is ongoing, with all six detainees being interrogated and their involvement in the case carefully examined.
Chowdhury also noted that the mobile phone of the survivor has been recovered and that evidence, including clothing and physical details related to her friend, was collected. The police conducted a reconstruction of the incident at the crime scene with the survivor’s classmate. Initially, the friend’s role appeared uncertain, prompting further scrutiny and questioning by the authorities.
In her complaint to a medical professional, the survivor recounted the terrifying sequence of events, explaining that she and her friend were being pursued by men while out for dinner. The men allegedly caught her, dragged her into a forest, and threatened to summon additional accomplices if she screamed. She described how they forced her to lie down and warned that making noise would bring more men to assault her.
