In filmy style, a special team of the Crime Branch CID of Tamil Nadu police on Wednesday air-dashed to West Bengal and apprehended the third suspect involved in the alleged sexual assault and murder of a TCS employee here.
The team boarded the Chennai-Howrah Mail at Kharagpur Junction and cornered Ujan Mandal, in his twenties, in one of the coaches barely a couple of hours before the train reached its destination.
“We have arrested Ujan Mandal who was involved in the case. On information that he boarded the Howrah Mail in Chennai on Monday, we rushed a team to Kolkata. Investigators drove back to Kharagpur, boarded the train and nabbed the accused,” Inspector-General of Police (CBCID) Mahesh Kumar Agarwal told The Hindu on Wednesday.
He would be produced in a local court and brought to Chennai after obtaining a transit remand order, he said.
Crucial evidenceMeanwhile, investigators seized the knife used to commit the murder and some jewels belonging to the victim. Based on the information revealed by Utham Mandal and Ram Mandal, already arrested in the case, police also recovered an ear stud and a copper ring, police sources said.
Explaining how the woman was intercepted and forced to a secluded area where the offence was committed, Mr. Agarwal said the suspects probably held her at knife-point, “It appears that they saw the woman walking alone and attacked her. Though the area is not isolated , the suspects took advantage of the darkness and late-night hour.”
He said hours of painstaking investigation coupled with technical evidence helped the police zero in on the accused persons. Besides mobile phone calls and ATM footage, enquiries with local people were useful in identifying them. Investigators said swabs obtained from the body of the victim would be subjected to forensic analysis to confirm sexual assault. Based on the outcome of the tests, police would alter sections in the case.
