Thaindian News

Kolkata, Aug 14 (IANS) A day after a Kolkata woman gave a police complaint that she was gangraped here, she retracted from her statement Tuesday after investigators pointed to discrepancies in her account, police said.

The woman, who works as a medical attendant, did the volte face hours after an accused was sentenced to police custody in the wake of her initial statement and complaint given Sunday.

“During investigation we found several discrepancies in her account and when we confronted her, she retracted from her statement and said she was not gangraped. We do not know if she was pressured to file the complaint but we are looking into the matter,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Pallab Kanti Ghosh.

The woman in her complaint alleged that she was abducted by 10 men from Chetla in south Kolkata Saturday. She alleged they took her to a house where she was raped by two persons before being dumped at the same place the next morning.

The woman also gave her statement before a judicial magistrate Monday.

Following her complaint, police arrested Ajay Bhattacharya alias Cheno, who was subsequently remanded to police custody till Aug 18 by a court here.

“The area from where she was allegedly abducted is a busy place but during our investigation we could not find any person who had witnessed the offence. Moreover, the woman was at her workplace the entire Saturday night, during which she said she was kept at an unknown house and raped,” added Ghosh.

Media reports alleged that the woman was pressured by politicians to file the complaint.

Local Trinamool councillor Juhi Biswas said: “Yes, she had called me up Sunday morning and I had accompanied her to the police station. But I did not write the complaint. I only went there to ask the police to take necessary action”.