Police have added six additional sections under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against Monojit Mishra and his associates in the alleged gang rape case, including charges of watching, capturing, or disseminating images of a woman engaged in a private act without her consent.

Investigators said Mishra’s co-accused, students Pramit Mukherjee, 20, and Zaib Ahmed, 19, reportedly told them that the attack on the woman at South Calcutta Law College on June 25 had been planned beforehand.

Charges

The police registered a case on June 26 charging Mishra, 31, and his associates Mukherjee and Ahmed, under sections of gang rape, wrongful confinement and joint liability.

On June 28, the police added sections of watching and capturing images of a woman in a private act without her consent, causing hurt with dangerous weapons, kidnapping with the purpose of wrongful confinement, kidnapping to cause the victim grievous hurt, slavery, or unnatural lust, criminal intimidation and keeping the kidnapped victim in confinement.

Pinaki Banerjee, 55, the fourth arrested person, has also been charged under the same sections. Banerjee was the security guard on duty at the college during the alleged gang rape.

Delay

Asked why there was a delay in adding sections even after the woman described her ordeal in detail, a senior officer said the new charges were slapped after preliminary investigation and collection of evidence.

The officer said: “For example, the charges of watching and capturing images of a woman in a private act without her consent under section 77 of the BNS were added after the phone in which the video was captured was seized. A delay of two days in adding these sections will not hamper the probe or fate of the case.”

Sources said legal advice was taken before adding the sections to frame a stronger case.

During the probe, the police said they found the accused had abducted the woman, confined her and threatened to kill her during the rape.

“The accused also assaulted her with a hard object. Based on the findings, we have added the new sections,” said an officer attached to the probe.

PILs, petition

Three PILs and one petition were filed in two courts on Monday.

Supreme Court advocate Satyam Singh Rajput told Metro that he submitted a letter demanding a probe by the CBI or any independent agency. “I have also sought compensation for the woman,” he said.

Rajput’s plea has also sought protection for the woman, her family, witnesses and her legal representatives.

At Calcutta High Court, advocates Saumya Subhra Ray, Sayan De and Vijay Kumar Singhal filed three separate petitions before the division bench headed by Justice Soumen Sen. Their pleas sought permission to file a PIL demanding either a CBI probe or a judicial investigation.

The bench allowed all three to file their petitions.

‘Pre-planned’ attack

Mishra’s co-accused, students Mukherjee and Ahmed, have reportedly told investigators that they had planned beforehand to confine the woman alone in a room with Mishra.

Inhaler

An officer said they had seized an inhaler that Ahmed bought for the woman after she complained of breathlessness in the union room on the campus after Mishra attacked her. One of Mishra’s associates had brought the inhaler on her request, said the officer quoting from the woman’s statement to the police. The cops have seized the bill for it from a shop. According to records, Ahmed purchased it at 8.29pm on June 25, the officer said.

Medico-legal opinion

The medico-legal test conducted on the woman last week suggested sexual assault. Injuries were found on her neck and chest, the police said.

Top cop visit

Kolkata Police commissioner Manoj Verma visited Kasba police station on Monday evening to check on the investigation of the case.

The four arrested are at the police station.