Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma visits the site of the incident in Tangra Police Station area where three females including one minor were found dead in their home, in Kolkata on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Commissioner of Kolkata Police Manoj Kumar Verma on Wednesday (February 19, 2025) said the Kolkata Police secured a speedy conviction in the case involving the rape and attempted murder of a seven-month-old baby within 79 days of the crime.
The convict, 34-year-old Rajib Ghosh, was awarded the death sentence at the Bankshall court on Tuesday (February 18).
“This is probably the first case where capital punishment was awarded to the rape convict while the victim is still surviving,” the Police Commissioner added.
Mr Ghosh was convicted of kidnapping, raping, and attempting to murder the newborn on November 30, 2024, in Kolkata’s Burtolla Police Station area. He was arrested on December 5 morning from his home at Gopiballavpur in West Bengal’s Jhargram district.
According to the Police Commissioner, Mr Ghosh was charged with sections 137 (2) and 65 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, pertaining to kidnapping, and rape of a minor under the age of sixteen, respectively. He was also charged with Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, which deals with the punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault.
“The convict, who was then a suspect, was arrested within 4 days of the crime, with the help of technical evidence. A Special Investigation Team was formed that monitored the case on a day-to-day basis. Within 28 days, we could submit the chargesheet and the conviction was secured within 79 days,” Mr Verma said.
The arrest and conviction followed the collection of technical evidence including gait pattern analysis of the convict, tallying his dental pattern with bite marks, DNA profile matching, and other methodologies.
Mr Verma also highlighted that the survivor is currently under treatment at the State-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. and not in the best condition, ‘unlikely to ever return to complete normalcy’.
Published – February 20, 2025 09:29 am IST