Siliguri, Aug. 22: The trial of the alleged rape and murder of a 21-year-old girl in the heart of the city began today, more than a year and a half after the incident sent shock waves through Siliguri.
Supriya Mitruka’s body was found at the entrance of Niladri Shikhar, the tallest building in the city, on the evening of January 30, 2006. Initially people thought she had fallen or jumped from the upper floors of the 10-storeyed tower, but her post-mortem report stated that she had been killed by asphyxiation caused by smothering or manual strangulation. Afterwards her lifeless body had been thrown out of the upper storeys of the building.
Later, the girl’s family lodged a police complaint accusing Supriya’s former boyfriend, Amit Maheshwari of Gandhi Maidan in Khalpara, of being the brain behind the murder.
Though there was no clear indication of rape, the autopsy had indicated sexual injuries. On the basis of that the police charge-sheeted Maheshwari, the liftman of the building, Raju Srivastav, and a security guard, Biswajit Ram, for rape and murder in March this year.
During the hearing of the charge held in the court of Santanu Jha, additional sessions judge-II, defence lawyer Uday Sankar Malakar said: “There is no evidence, medical or otherwise, indicating a rape, which is why this charge should be dropped. Trial should begin only under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC.”
Subhashis Saha, from the side of the prosecution, disagreed. “The post-mortem report says there were injuries in the girl’s private parts, indicating a possible rape,” Saha said. “The proceedings should therefore be initiated under both the sections. Let the court decide whether there was a rape or not.”
The court is likely to decide in a day or two on what charges the trio will be tried.
Santosh Mitruka, the girl’s mother who was present at the hearing today, insisted that Maheshwari and his family were behind the murder. “The two of them were having an affair, but the boy’s family was against it because we belong to different clans,” she said.
Malakar said Maheshwari has been made a scapegoat because the real culprit could not be found.
