The accused, who had brutally assaulted a B.Tech student in the IIT BHU campus of Varanasi, had gone to see the Nakkataiya Mela of Chetganj on his bike that night. After seeing Nakkataiya, all three entered the BHU campus from Singh gate and went towards IIT. The accused saw the B.Tech student at a deserted place and committed brutality with her. Then, left Hyderabad Gate and went towards the bypass. The three accused remained towards the bypass for about thirty minutes. After this, accused Kunal had dropped his companions Saksham and Abhishek at their house. Accused Kunal reached his home after 2:30 that night. All three accused have given this information during the interrogation with the police. He further told that the incident was committed on the night of 1st November. Then on the night of 2nd and 3rd November, he saw that the students of IIT BHU had started a movement to protest against the incident. All three got scared on this and left the city and went to campaign in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. Then all three came back to Varanasi before voting. He was sure that now he would not be arrested. The trio further said that they often passed by the BHU campus, making fun of the girls seen on the streets at night. He had not thought that the case of the IIT BHU student would gain so much prominence. All three thought that the student would not tell anything to anyone out of fear and would quietly go to her hostel.
This is how the police identified the accused
According to senior police officials, after scanning more than 300 CCTV cameras, the three accused were identified on November 4 itself. But after committing the crime, the three accused ran away from Hyderabad Gate towards the bypass. Due to lack of special lighting arrangements on that route, the police were not able to achieve much success. Then, the police started scanning the footage of three youths riding a two-wheeler who entered the BHU campus from Singh Gate after 1.00 am on November 1. With the help of City Command and Control Center located in Sigra, police got blurry footage of three youths riding a bullet bike. With the help of this footage, the police moved towards Lanka and reached Chetganj. Clear footage of the three accused was found in Chetganj area. When the victim was shown the footage, she recognized all three.
BJP expelled the accused
After the arrest of the accused, their picture with top BJP leaders was rapidly going viral on social media. The opposition had also fiercely attacked this. Congress state president Ajay Rai and Akhilesh Yadav wrote against BJP on X and asked what kind of zero tolerance policy this is. The three arrested accused have uploaded photos with big leaders on their social media accounts. After which BJP expelled him from its party. According to the police, the accused Kunal Pandey is married and also the son-in-law of a BJP councilor. According to the people of Kunal’s locality, he is a B.Tech pass. The nameplate of BJP and its officials installed outside the house of Saksham Patel and Abhishek Chauhan was removed late on Sunday evening. After the nameplate was removed, there were various discussions in the area. Local people said that the family members of both had removed the nameplates under pressure from party leaders. Both the accused had got their names and designations written outside their houses.
Police can now wash away the stigma of its failure
In the case of brutality against an IIT BHU student, the working style of the Commissionerate police was under serious question. There were also discussions about the working style of the police and that in this case they were under pressure from the beginning. This is why there was so much delay in arresting the accused. On the other hand, all three accused were living comfortably in their house. Experts say that the police can now wash away the stigma of its failure. For this, the police should quickly complete the investigation of the case in a transparent manner and file a charge sheet in the court. After this, request that the case be tried in a fast court and the accused be given the harshest punishment.
The section of gang rape was increased on the statement of the victim
Let us tell you that on the basis of the complaint of the victim student, a case was registered against three unknown accused in Lanka police station on the morning of November 2 under the IT Act and teasing. Later the student gave a statement to the investigator and magistrate that her private parts were touched by the three accused. Also, he was threatened to upload the video made of forcibly stripping her on different social media platforms. In the case registered on this basis, the sections of gang rape and sexual harassment through electronic means were increased.