Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal is under fire in the case of rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata. The police investigation in this case is facing constant criticism. However, Vineet Goyal claims that Kolkata Police did what was right. The investigation of the case is now in the hands of the CBI. Amidst the questions raised on Vineet Goyal, a mention has come of a gruesome rape incident that took place in Kamduni village of West Bengal in 2013. Let us know what the whole case is and what happened in Kamduni in 2013?
The incident with the trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College is being compared to the Kamduni rape case. Comparing the investigation of both the cases in the court, the lawyer of the petitioners questioned the role of Vineet Goyal and cited his involvement in a similar case in the past.
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya alleged in his tweet that, ‘It is quite possible that on the instructions of Mamata Banerjee, Kolkata Police has destroyed evidence in the Medical College and Hospital rape and murder case by doing RG. The initial action by Kolkata Police also does not inspire much confidence.’
He also shared a video of the hearing in the Calcutta High Court. In the video, a lawyer for the petitioners, who were demanding a CBI probe into the case, questions the role of Commissioner Vineet Goel in the case and cites his involvement in a similar case in the past.
Malviya further wrote, ‘Meet Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal. As Inspector General of CID, he was the investigating officer in the most high-profile rape and murder case, which he completely botched. The same modus operandi as that of creating scratch marks on the victim’s body in the Kamduni case was adopted in the RG Kar case as well.’
He said, ‘It is possible that Vineet Goyal has already done this work for Mamata Banerjee and the CBI may not be able to find much. Whatever little evidence was left was destroyed by the mob last night.’ Actually Amit Malviya was referring to the gang rape and murder of a 20-year-old girl in a village in Barasat district in 2013. During this case, Vineet Goyal was the Inspector General of Police (IGP) of the state CID.
What is Kamduni rape case?
On 7 June 2013, a 20-year-old college student was abducted, gang-raped and murdered in Kamduni village in West Bengal. The incident took place just 16 km from Barasat in North 24 Parganas district, which is about 20 km from the capital Kolkata.
The victim, Shipra Ghosh, was a BA second year student of Derozio College. She was returning home through Kamduni BDO Office Road in the afternoon. During this time she was kidnapped and taken inside a factory, where eight people gang-raped her.
After raping her, the perpetrators tore her legs up to the navel, slit her throat and dumped her body in a nearby field. Around 8:30 pm, the victim’s brothers found their sister’s body near a fish farming area in Kharibari, Rajarhat.
At around 9:45 pm, there was a dispute and then a clash between the police and the villagers over the recovery of the body. The mob vandalised three police vehicles. At around 2 pm, a large contingent of police recovered the victim’s body from the villagers and sent it to Barasat for postmortem.
Later, all the eight accused including the prime accused Ansar Ali were arrested one by one. The case was being investigated by the CID, West Bengal. On June 16, CID officials took all the accused to Kamduni for recreation of the incident amid tight security of police and Indian Reserve Battalion.
On June 17, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited Kamduni. She promised that a chargesheet would be filed against those arrested within 15 days of the incident and that her government would seek the death penalty for the culprits.
The accused were finally sentenced in January 2016. Some were awarded death penalty, including Ansar Ali, Saiful Ali and Aminul Ali, while others, Imanul Islam, Aminur Islam and Bhola Naskar, were sentenced to life imprisonment.
However, on 6 October 2023, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court, comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Ajay Kumar Gupta, acquitted Imanul Islam, Aminur Islam and Bhola Naskar of the charge of gang rape and held them guilty of criminal conspiracy and causing disappearance of evidence.
The High Court acquitted Aminul Ali and commuted the death sentence of Saifullah Ali and Ansar Ali to life imprisonment. The court also ordered the release from custody of the other three convicts, whose life sentence was reduced to seven years. They had already served 10 years.
On October 9, at 4 am, the Bengal government filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the High Court’s decision. The Supreme Court did not order a stay on the decision but ordered all parties to file an affidavit within a week.
Who is IPS Vineet Goyal?
Vineet Goel, a 1994 batch IPS officer, is the current Commissioner of Kolkata Police. He was appointed as the Commissioner of Kolkata Police on January 1, 2022. He replaced Soumen Mitra who retired on December 31, 2021.
He is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and has served in various key positions in both Kolkata Police and the state police. Before becoming the commissioner, Goyal was the additional director general (ADG) of the Special Task Force (STF) of the state police. He has also served as deputy commissioner of police (DCP), including DCP (traffic), and rose to the rank of additional commissioner of police.
Last month, the Union Home Ministry had initiated disciplinary action against Goyal and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Central Indira Mukherjee for allegedly insulting the office of the West Bengal Governor and violating protocol.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)