75-year-old raped, killed in W Bengal

Mamata announces CBI probe into nun rape case

On a day the state government decided to hand over the gang-rape case of a septuagenarian nun from Nadia to the CBI, another woman in her 70s was found raped and murdered at Burdwan.

The body of a 75-year-old widow was discovered outside an ashram where she was attending a religious conference. The incident is likely to cause further trouble for the state government, which has failed to make any progress in the gang-rape case.

After five days of fruitless investigation by the CID, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced her decision to hand over the case to the CBI on Wednesday. “Considering the seriousness and sensitivity of the case and also the fact that the place where the incident took place is very close to the border area, I have decided to entrust investigation of the case to the CBI,” she tweeted.

Banerjee assured the CBI of “all possible cooperation and assistance” from her government.

“The Ranaghat incident is a very serious matter. The police were instructed to take swift action to nab the culprits. They are making their best efforts,” she said.

Within hours of Banerjee’s announcement, the disrobed body of the 75-year-old widow was found at Katwa in Burdwan. SP Kunal Ghosh said that the body was found some distance from the ashram where she used to live.

Four people have been detained in connection with the incident, he said. Though the police are yet to confirm if the woman was raped, the discovery of a pair of trousers, a lighter and a pair of men’s sandals have led them to believe she was brutalised.

The Roman Catholic Church’s headquarters at Vatican, which has expressed concern at the nun’s rape, sent Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India and one of its highest ranking officials, to Ranaghat.