Park Street rape: No CCTV footage of crucial 7 hours

Police had seized four hard disks each of capacity 250 GB from the Park Hotel

In a significant twist to the Park Street rape case, the forensic report of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) stated that the hard disk containing the CCTV footage of the Park Hotel had no images between the period 9 pm of February 5 to 4 am of February 6 when the accused were present in the disco.

Kolkata Police on Wednesday submitted the CFSL report to the fast track court at City Sessions Court, which is hearing the case.

Police had seized four hard disks each of capacity 250 GB containing the video footage from 31 CCTVs placed in the hotel to get clues about the men who accompanied the victim in the car. The hard disks were sent to the CFSL in Kolkata to get the video footage of the intervening night of February 6.

Public prosecutor Sarbani Roy, while placing the report, said there was no video footage in the hard disks in the time slot of 21.00 hrs on February 5 to 4.00 hrs on February 6.

On February 5 night, a middle-aged woman had taken lift with several youths in a car from Park Hotel. They came out from the disco of the hotel after 2 am and boarded a car parked outside the hotel. The woman was later raped by the youths in the car.

The incident hit the headlines after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed it concocted only to be rebutted by the police, which filed a chargesheet against five people for rape. Of the five three — Nisad Alam, Sumit Bajaj and Nasir Khan are in jail at present and the two are still absconding.

Police, meanwhile, also placed the CFSL report of the chemical examination of the four swab samples taken from the car and the victim's clothes. The report stated that neither semen nor any other biologically significant foreign body could be detected on the contents.

... contd.

ALSO READ

Chit fund scam: Mamata govt against handing over Saradha probe to CBI

Its credibility at stake, Rose Valley struck KKR deal for brand-building last year

Sachin Tendulkar turns 40 today but his routine remains the same

Congress warns TMC against BJP tie-up, reminds it of 2004 tally