The statement of a first-year college student who alleged that she had been gang-raped by youths she knew is likely to be recorded before a magistrate on Monday.
The 19-year-old girl had gone to a friend’s house to attend a party where, she alleged, she was offered a spiked drink and gang-raped.
Police said as a part of the investigation, recording the statement of the victim before the magistrate under section 164 of the CrPC was of paramount importance.
“A victim’s statement recorded before the magistrate is treated as primary evidence. Once the statement is made, it becomes easier to corroborate the sequence of events and to verify them with circumstantial evidence,” said a senior officer at Kolkata police headquarters Lalbazar.
The police have arrested four youths, three of them students. The fifth person to have been arrested is a minor who wrote his Class X board exams this year.
The four adult accused are in police custody at present while the fifth, considered to be a “child in conflict with law”, is under the juvenile justice board.
Investigators said they will examine the four accused one by one and ask them to “reconstruct” the sequence of events.
“All four will be questioned separately so that if anyone tries to lie, they will be caught. The exact role of each of the accused has to be ascertained,” an officer said.
The police said that apart from the victim, there was another woman in the group. She will also be examined and her statement will be vital, an officer said.
Investigators said four of the accused youths live in the same neighbourhood as the victim.
Some people in the locality alleged that the police were trying to shield a youth for his “political connections”.
The police refuted the charge as “baseless” and said the case had been drawn up based on the written complaint of the victim.
“All persons mentioned in the complaint have been arrested or detained (referring to the juvenile). There is no question of shielding anyone,” said an officer of the police station that drew up the FIR and made the arrests.