Sept 3: Two persons accused of raping a 35-year-old woman in Burdwan’s Katwa last year died in an accident this evening when they were returning after a hearing of the case.

Sheikh Kalam, 33, and Sheikh Farid, 31, two of the eight rape accused now out on bail, were returning home in Birbhum’s Labhpur from a Katwa court when their bike collided with a truck.

“The bike was speeding on the Suri-Kirnahar Road. It collided with a truck while passing through a narrow stretch. Both died on the spot,” a police officer in Burdwan said.

The two were part of an armed gang of robbers who attacked passengers in a Katwa-bound local train in Pachundi on February 26 last year. They dragged the woman along with her 10-year-old daughter to a nearby field and raped the lady when she refused to hand over her valuables.

“They took turns to rape the woman as her daughter stood helplessly near the railway tracks,” the police officer said.

The trial started on Saturday in the Katwa ACJM court.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said medical evidence did not prove rape and the incident was a “drama staged by harmads”. She had said the woman’s husband was a CPM supporter. The man died 11 years ago.