JOIN USCBI to have tough time cracking nun gang-rape case
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to face a tough time in its investigation into the gang-rape of an elderly nun at Ranaghat in Nadia on March 14. With the agency set to take over the case almost a week after the incident, several crucial clues might have been damaged and the perpetrators could have fled the area.
According to experts, the CBI will have to start from scratch once it takes over the probe as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) investigation is yet to shed light even on basic details.
“The CID has failed to find out the exact time when the gang entered the convent on March 14. How many persons were involved in the crime and what was the exit route, whether by rail or by road,” a home ministry official pointed out, admitting that the probe would be a difficult job for the CBI. Police sources said that while CCTV footage shows the time when the images of the youths were first captured, no one knows when they entered and left the compound.
A senior police official admitted that they only have a vague idea of the gang leaving the premises around 5:10 am but there is still no theory on how they left Ranaghat, which is barely 40 kilometres from the Indo-Bangladesh border.
“It takes around 40 minutes by train to reach the international border from Ranaghat,” local police officials said.
“Within three-and-a-half hours, one can reach Murshidabad via the NH 34,” a senior official agreed.
He also said that despite the convent being around 38 km from the border at Gede, no help has been sought from the Border Security Force (BSF) even though ministers and senior state government officials initially made such claims.
A senior BSF official at the BSF (South Bengal) headquarters in Kolkata said, “We were only asked to provide some sniffer dogs, which we did. We’ve not received any intimation from the state police till date, seeking help on suspected cross-border movements of any gang.”
Meanwhile, the traumatised nun has been declared fit for discharge from the state-run hospital on Thursday although the convent authorities are yet to take a call on the matter.
Hospital superintendent A K Mondal said, “We’re in a position to release her, but the convent authorities have not communicated to us their final decision.” He added that the medical board constituted to examine the nun has examined her and she is taking her food and medicines normally.