Nun gang rape: Accused sent to 14 days police custody

Kolkata, March 27 (IANS) A court in West Bengal's Nadia district on Friday sent a Bangladeshi national, arrested in connection with the gang rape of a nun inside a convent in Ranaghat, to 14 days police custody.

Gopal Sarkar, who was arrested by the Criminal investigation Department of the state police from Habra in North 24 Parganas district on Thursday for allegedly harbouring the assailants who looted the Convent of Jesus and Mary and brutalised the 71-year-old nun, was produced in the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate, Ranaghat, during the day.

"In our submission we told the court that Sarkar had sheltered those who committed the heinous act before and after the incident. He helped them in committing the crime. He had material gains from the incident," said the prosecution counsel.

"We collected material evidence and produced them before the court. After hearing the arguments, the learned court allowed our prayer for 14 days CID custody," he said.

The CID presented before the court two mobile phones seized from Sarkar and claimed the call records showed that he was in constant communication with the gang of Bangladeshi criminals who had raided the convent.

In their first major breakthrough 12 days after the crime, the CID a day back arrested two Bangladeshi nationals - Mohammad Salim Sheikh in Mumbai and Sarkar.

Sheikh was later brought to West Bengal and presented before the court which sent him to police remand for 14 days.

The criminals vandalised the convent between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. on March 14.

Soon after the incident, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered a CID probe.