Baruipur case: Calcutta High Court seeks police report on circumstances that led to accused’s encounter

Senior Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, representing the petitioner submitted, “The police had taken the accused, Mondal, to the crime scene in order to reconstruct the incident after his arrest. The police should have ensured adequate security measures. If the security had been proper, the accused would not have been able to snatch the revolver, as claimed by the police, and this incident would not have occurred.”

Representing the state government, Additional Advocate General Rajdeep Majumdar submitted, “The prime accused was taken to the crime scene on the night of July 7 for reconstruction. It was then that Mondal suddenly snatched a police revolver and opened fire as he tried to escape. He was subsequently injured in retaliatory firing by the police. Mondal was then rushed to a local hospital where he was declared dead.”

The AAG further submitted, “The police have registered a suo motu case regarding the incident, and the investigation is currently being supervised by the CID.”

A PIL filed by petitioner Shiladitya Rakshit challenged the police claim that the accused had tried to escape during the reconstruction of the crime scene after snatching the service revolver of a police officer in the early hours of July 8, following which he was shot.

According to the police, Mondal had been taken to the spot where the body of the girl was allegedly recovered. The police in their statement claimed that Mondal allegedly had suddenly snatched a service weapon from officer Rony Sarkar of the Special Investigating Team and open fired at the officers while trying to flee. It was then that another officer Arghya Mondal fired back at Mondal as they were unable to catch him. The post mortem examination had revealed two bullet wounds on Mondal’s body.

The police had stated that through CCTV footage they had identified Mondal as the person who had followed the girl and abducted her. It was then that he and the others raped and murdered her and dumped her body in a pond. Apart from Mondal, Anand Sardar, Dibakar Sardar, and Kabir Mollah were arrested in connection with the crime.

The girl had gone missing on July 4, following which the family filed a missing person complaint. After the body was recovered, violence erupted in the area, wherein a mob attacked police personnel, vandalised police vehicles, and blocked roads and railway tracks.