Kolkata law college rape case: Police reopening cases against Monojit Mishra

Kolkata: Police are reopening the cases against Monojit Mishra, the prime accused in the case of raping a law college student at Kasba in Kolkata, sources said on Wednesday.

Sources in city police said that altogether 12 cases were registered against Mishra on various charges, namely hooliganism, causing injuries through weapons, beating up junior students by bringing in anti-social elements from outside within the campus, and most importantly, repeated complaints of sexual harassment of female students within the campus.

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Out of these 12 cases, he added, two cases have already been reopened, and Mishra had also been shown as arrested in these two cases. One of the two cases that have already been reopened against Mishra is one registered in 2023 on charges of both hooliganism and sexual assault.

The other case, which had been reopened, was registered in 2024 on charges of hooliganism.

The police and their legal teams are thoroughly examining the other 10 cases registered against him in the past and determining which of these remaining 10 have merit for reopening.

However, the questions that started surfacing are that had the police taken prompt action against Mishra at the time when the 12 past cases were registered, the incident of rape within the law college premises could have been avoided.

To date, four people have been arrested in connection with the case. They are the three prime accused in the crime of rape, namely Monojit Mishra, Jaib Ahmed, and Pramit Mukhopadhyay. Police had identified Mishra as the perpetrator of the crime, while the other two have been identified as his facilitators in the heinous activity.

The fourth arrested person in the case is Pinaki Banerjee, a security guard of the law college, who, as per the statement recorded by the victim with the police immediately after the incident on the evening of June 25, was the “sole helpless” witness to the crime.

Meanwhile, a fresh allegation has surfaced against Mishra of facilitating the admission of a certain number of ineligible students at the law college at Kasba every year against receipts of hefty cash ranging between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.50 lakh.