Key accused in Baruipur rape-murder case killed in police encounter

One of the prime accused in the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in West Bengal's Baruipur was killed in an alleged encounter early on Wednesday after he "snatched a firearm from a policeman and tried to escape from custody" during a crime scene reconstruction exercise, a senior officer said. The encounter -- the first such police action since the BJP government assumed office in the state in May -- came amid mounting public outrage over the crime, which had sparked violent protests and put the police under intense pressure. The accused, Prabhas Mondal, was the first person arrested in the case and considered one of the key suspects after multiple CCTV footage purportedly showed him with the girl shortly before she had gone missing.

According to a senior police officer, Mondal was taken to Surjyapur in South 24 Parganas district around 12.45 am as investigators attempted to reconstruct the sequence of events after alleging that he had been misleading the probe and giving contradictory statements. "During the exercise, he suddenly snatched a service firearm from a policeman and attempted to escape. He also fired one round at the police team. The police retaliated in self-defence, in which he sustained bullet injuries," the officer said. Mondal was taken to the Baruipur Sub-Divisional Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

A magisterial inquest will be performed on the deceased following which the body will be sent for autopsy, police sources said. A team of police personnel visited the encounter site this morning and recorded videographic evidence of the alleged exchange of fire. Investigators claimed that Mondal was an accomplice to the brutal rape and murder of the minor and had taken her to her assailants, all of whom have now been arrested, after he was allegedly promised Rs 10,000 for the job. Mondal, they said, had taken the girl to a secluded location after she had left her home to buy a birthday gift for her friend before overpowering her with the help of the other attackers. In a striking reaction, his mother, Sandhya Mondal, refused to claim the body, saying he had met the consequences of his actions. "He got what he deserved for what he did," she told reporters after the police informed her of Prabhas' death early on Wednesday.

She said the police had come to her house, confirmed her son's identity and asked whether she wanted to see him. "I don't want to see his face. I will not go to claim the body, and nobody from the family will either," she said. The grieving mother also alleged that her son had long been addicted to intoxicants and had never listened to her advice. Meanwhile, the police arrested another accused, Kabir Molla, from Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district in a joint operation by the STF, Baruipur SOG and the district police. The police said Molla had been absconding since the crime. He was brought to Baruipur for interrogation, taking the total number of arrests in the rape-murder case to four. Besides Mondal, Anand Sardar and Dibakar Sardar had earlier been arrested.

All three suspects were made to sit face to face at the Baruipur police station and interrogated by the investigators on Tuesday. The statement of the victim’s mother was also recorded. The body of the girl, who had gone missing on July 4, was recovered from a pond in the Surjyapur Haat area the next day. The preliminary post-mortem report of the victim indicated severe head injuries, sexual assault and being thrown into water alive, before the body was found stuffed inside a gunny bag and fished out of a pond a day later. The police said the post-mortem findings revealed injury marks in the girl's private parts, besides scratch and bite marks on different areas of her body and indicated that the girl's head had either been struck with a heavy object or banged against a hard surface.

The report further suggested that excessive bleeding from the head injury, along with drowning, led to her death. The incident triggered widespread outrage, with angry residents blocking the Baruipur-Joynagar Road, setting tyres ablaze and vandalising police vehicles while demanding immediate arrests and exemplary punishment for those responsible. Hours after the girl's body was recovered, a man was lynched by a mob on suspicion of involvement in the crime. The state government later said the mob attack victim was innocent.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who visited Baruipur on Tuesday and held a high-level review meeting with senior police officers, had directed DGP Siddh Nath Gupta to submit a report in the rape-murder case within 72 hours and asserted that his government would follow a "zero tolerance" policy towards such crimes. He also announced that the police had identified around 200 people from video footage for allegedly being involved in the violence and vandalism during the protests. The police said 20 people have so far been arrested in connection with the attacks on personnel and damage to public property, adding that action would continue against all those found involved.

The accused will be produced in court later in the day following the completion of their medical examination, they added. The victim’s family members maintained that they reposed full faith in the state government in bringing the perpetrators to justice. “We respect the chief minister and consider him our ‘Dada’ (elder brother). Dada has assured us he will deliver justice, and we have full faith in him and in the police. He told us that the perpetrators will be given the severest punishment for their crime, and we believe he will. We are satisfied with the progress in the investigation so far,” the victim’s father said.