A 28-year-old state government official was arrested early on Friday morning in Deshapriya Park for allegedly gang-raping a 20-year-old college student at his birthday party in Regent Park earlier this month.
Debangshu Biswas works as a Bhoomi Sahayak in the Block Land Revenue Officer’s (BLRO) office in Bishnupur, South 24-Parganas, and had been missing since the incident was reported on September 6. He is the second person to be arrested in the case.
The woman had named Biswas and another man, Chandan Malik, in her complaint. Malik, who had brought the woman to Biswas’s home for the party, was arrested on September 9 at Burdwan railway station. Since the complaint was lodged, both accused fled Bengal to avoid arrest.
“Debangshu Biswas has been missing since the incident. He was arrested early on Friday in front of 24B Deshapriya Park Road,” said Kolkata Police deputy commissioner (south west division) Rahul De.
While Malik had escaped to Bihar, he was caught when he returned to Burdwan station. Biswas evaded the police by travelling through Bihar, Jharkhand, and Delhi before returning to Calcutta.
The two were produced before the court on Friday and remanded in police custody till September 22.
During the investigation, the police learned that Malik was the woman’s former friend, and the woman only knew Biswas through him. Investigators also found that Malik and Biswas received financial and logistical support from Malik’s aunt’s family, who allegedly helped them flee the state.
“We found that a family was helping the men financially. We zeroed in on the phone transactions and froze their bank accounts. A suo motu case has been started against Malik’s aunt and her family,” said an officer.