A governing body member of South Calcutta Law College has revealed that Monojit Mishra, the prime accused in the alleged gang rape of a 24-year-old woman student on June 25, had threatened to shoot teachers who questioned his conduct and work attendance.

The college governing body member, speaking anonymously, alleged that when teachers confronted Mishra about his irregular attendance or bribery allegations, he responded with violent threats that left faculty too intimidated to file police complaints.

According to minutes from a governing body meeting held on July 2, 2024, accessed by Metro, Mishra was appointed as temporary office staff effective July 3, for a remuneration of ₹500 daily with his contract to be renewed every 45 days. Though hired for paperwork duties during admissions and exam submissions, Mishra allegedly wielded significant influence over college operations.

“His remuneration was ₹500 daily. But he would hardly come during the office hours, from 9am to 4pm,” the governing body member said. “When a teacher asked him why he would not come for the office job during the designated hours, Mishra told him in the corridor that he would shove the barrel of the gun into his mouth and shoot him. The teacher could not muster the courage to lodge any complaint.”

When another teacher questioned allegations of cash-for-seat admissions, Mishra allegedly threatened to “chase him outside the college and run him over”. Again, no complaint was filed.

According to the 24-year-old woman student’s statement to Kasba police on June 26, a day after the alleged gang-rape, Mishra assaulted her in the students’ union room, then beat and raped her in the security guard’s room while his two alleged associates — Zaib Ahmed, 19, and Pramit Mukherjee, 20, both current students of the college — stood by and watched.

Since 2013, Mishra has had 11 cases registered under Kolkata Police’s jurisdiction. He was arrested in five cases and surrendered to the court in the remaining six. But he has not been convicted in any of these.

In May 2024, South Calcutta Law College vice-principal Nayna Chatterji filed an FIR against Mishra for assaulting a private security guard and damaging college property when he was denied entry during the Lok Sabha elections.

“Just two months later, the same Mishra was appointed as temporary office staff, and the vice-principal did not object to it,” the governing body member noted.

Metro’s attempts to reach vice-principal Chatterji for comment were unsuccessful.

The governing body member alleged that Mishra, a practising criminal lawyer at Alipore Court, secured his staff position primarily to control admissions through bribery.

“He would get candidates with poor ranks in Calcutta University’s law admission tests and admit them against payment of bribes,” the member said. “In a government-aided law college like ours, candidates who rank within the bracket of the first 700 should get admitted.”

As an example, the member cited Zaib Ahmed, the arrested student, who ranked 2634 in the admission test but gained entry last year. Mishra had identified Ahmed as his “brother” on Facebook.

“College authorities knew about it,” the governing body member alleged.

A second-year student corroborated these claims, telling Metro that Mishra had asked him to find candidates willing to pay bribes for admission.

“I learnt that Mishra would charge anything between ₹1 lakh to ₹2 lakh to get students admitted through the backdoor,” the student said.

The governing body member also alleged financial misconduct in event organisation, claiming Mishra received ₹9 lakh from the college to organise each fest but “would spend only half of it”.

Calcutta University’s fact-finding team has requested admission details from the past three years from vice-principal Chatterji to investigate complaints of irregularities in admissions.