A teenage girl who had gone out for tuition was allegedly gang-raped by three men not far from her home on Saturday.
Police said the 14-year-old girl had first met a friend and gone to a park in the neighbourhood where they spent some time.
Sometime later, she was allegedly taken to a house inside Motilal Colony, police sources said.
She was allegedly gang-raped by three men. The alleged incident took place between 7.30pm and 8pm, the police said.
The young girl returned home and confided in her family about the incident, prompting her family to lodge a complaint with Dum Dum police station.
“We received the complaint close to Saturday midnight. A case was started immediately. Since one of the accused was known to the minor girl, he was picked up, followed by the arrest of the other two persons,” said a police officer.
Police identified the accused as Sanju Saha, alias Subhojit, 22, of Kalidham Colony in Dum Dum, Beekay Paswan, 22, of 32 Dr Jiban Ratan Dhar Road, Kalidham
Colony in Dum Dum and Rajesh Paswan, alias Rakesh, 35, of Milan Pally, in Motilal Colony also in Dum Dum.
Sanju Saha and Beekay Paswan drive e-rickshaws while Rajesh Paswan is a daily wage labourer by profession, police said.
According to officers, the girl was in touch with Sanju Saha for the last few days.
All three were charged with sections of aggravated sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
The minor girl’s statement was recorded before the magistrate in the court on Sunday.
A senior officer of the Barrackpore police commissionerate said that they will contact the neighbours and collect statements of eyewitnesses to corroborate the complaint.
CCTV cameras in the neighbourhood where the alleged incident happened will also be examined, the police said.
Earlier this year, a student of the South Calcutta Law College was allegedly gang-raped inside the college by a former student, along with two present students, with the alleged help of the college security guard.
Unable to overcome her trauma, the first-year student shifted to another government-aided law college, sources in the Kasba college said.
Monojit Mishra, the prime accused in the gang-rape and a former student who was attached to the college as a non-teaching staff, had allegedly raped the woman in the presence of first-year students Pramit Mukherjee and Zaib Ahmed; security guard Pinaki Banerjee had allegedly vacated his room where the crime took place.
Based on the woman’s complaint, all four were arrested.
Recently, security guard Banerjee was granted bail, as it was stated that he was not directly involved in the alleged offense and that his actions were driven by fear of Mishra’s political power.
Mishra, Mukherjee and Ahmed are still in jail.
In February this year, a 13-year-old girl who had a fight with her mother and stepped out of her home in anger had lost her way to her home in New Town and was offered a lift by an e-rickshaw driver.
The man who gave her the lift, promising to drop her home, allegedly took her to a deserted place where he raped and murdered her.
Soumitra Roy, the e-rickshaw puller, was later found guilty and convicted of rape and murder of the minor.