The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has begun examining the police encounter in which Prahlad Das, an accused in the rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl in Gaighata, North 24 Parganas, was killed, according to a report by Anandabazar. A CID team led by a deputy superintendent of police visited the site to establish where the firing took place and how Das allegedly tried to escape.
The investigation follows the death of the teenager, whose body was recovered in Gaighata on October 25. According to her family, she had gone to a local cultural programme near her home the previous night and left at around 11.30 pm after receiving a phone call. She could not be traced afterwards. Her body was found the next morning in a severely injured condition, and her family alleged that she had been raped and murdered.
Police arrested Das, described in the report as a distant relative of the girl, on the day her body was recovered. Police investigators suspected that he had proposed a physical relationship to the teenager and attacked her with a heavy object after she refused. The report attributes these details to the preliminary police investigation. Police sources also claimed that signs of a struggle, including scratch marks, had been found on Das’s body.
On the night of October 27, police took Das to the area for a reconstruction of the alleged crime. According to the police account reported by Anandabazar, he attacked police personnel while they were returning after the reconstruction and seized a service revolver before attempting to flee. Police claimed that Das fired three rounds and that a police officer was injured. The report said it was not clear whether the officer had been hit by a bullet.
The police vehicle used to transport Das reportedly had a bullet mark. Police sources claimed that officers fired four rounds in self-defence, after which Das was killed in the retaliatory firing. The CID team’s site visit is intended to examine the location of the shooting, the alleged escape attempt and the sequence of events described by the police.
The inquiry places the encounter under an independent state investigation while questions remain about the circumstances of the firing and the evidence at the scene. The supplied report does not provide details of the CID’s findings, the identity or condition of the injured police officer, or any additional official statement on the investigation.
The CID team is expected to continue examining the encounter site and the events surrounding the police operation. Further findings will determine how the reported sequence of firing and the death of Das are formally assessed.
