Bengal police arrest classmate of Durgapur medical student, rule out gang-rape

The police in West Bengal have arrested the 23-year-old male classmate who accompanied the woman student on the night of the incident, while also publicly stating that initial evidence does not support the claim of a gang-rape. 

According to Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissioner Sunil Kumar Choudhary, although the male friend was not above suspicion, so far forensic and medical findings point to the involvement of a single attacker. The statements and evidence of the other five suspects are being reconsidered, and their roles remain under scrutiny. 

The police reconstructed the crime scene, bringing all the accused and the classmate to the spot where the crime allegedly took place. During reconstruction, the clothes worn by the classmate that night were seized and forwarded for forensic analysis, along with those of other suspects. 

In her statement recorded before a magistrate, the survivor reportedly said that only one person physically assaulted her. Investigators say they are awaiting further forensic, medical, and legal inputs to firm up charges. 

The case has also been politically charged: the student’s father had earlier named her classmate in his complaint, and the hospital campus’s CCTV footage, phone call records, and timeline discrepancies are being intensely reviewed.