A 28-YEAR-OLD Bangladeshi, the alleged main accused in the rape of an elderly nun, that took place at a Ranaghat convent school in March, has been arrested from Sealdah railway station in Kolkata.
Acting on a tip-off, CID officials arrested 28-year-old Nazrul Islam alias Noju from Sealdah station’s platform number 5 on Wednesday night. Police claimed he was the one who had actually raped the 74-year-old nun on March 14. Noju is the sixth person to be arrested in the case — 94 days after the rape and robbery at the convent. Three suspects are still absconding.
Noju was arrested while he was getting down from a local train, SSP (CID) Chittaranjan Nag said on Thursday. “He had fled to Bangladesh after the crime and returned last night… Probably, after he was chased by the police in Bangladesh, he sneaked past the border to get into India. He was trying to flee somewhere,” he added.
“He disembarked from a train that had arrived from Bongaon when we arrested him. We have reasons to believe that he had raped the nun. He was produced before the court today, which sent him to 14-day police custody,” said Nag.
“During interrogation, Noju denied being a part of the crime but those previously arrested had confirmed that he was involved. Noju and another accused, Milan, had masterminded the act of rape and loot. The duo had done a recce of the place more than once before carrying out the act,” said a senior CID officer.
On March 14, between 1 am and 4 am, eight Bangladeshi nationals had entered the convent, overpowered the security guard, broke the safe and stole around Rs 12 lakh. Following this, they reached the first floor of the convent and raped the nun in her room. They also ate food from the kitchen. The CCTVs installed in the campus captured most of their acts.
“After the incident, they had taken a train to Bongaon from Pairadanga railway station — the nearest station from the convent. The group used the porous border to escape to Bangladesh. They are constantly looking for soft targets,” the official said.
The CID is expected to file a chargesheet in this case by the end of this month.
