Kolkata, July 6 : West Bengal Police on Monday arrested the prime accused in the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Baruipur, taking the total number of arrests in the case to three, even as a preliminary post-mortem report revealed the horrifying brutality of the crime that has set South 24 Parganas district on edge.
The prime accused, identified as Anand Sardar, was picked up from Baruipur’s market area on Monday afternoon after police traced him through his mobile phone tower location. He will be produced before a local court and taken into police custody for further interrogation, a senior officer told PTI.
Two other accused, Prabhas Mondal and Dibakar Sardar, were arrested earlier, one on Sunday night and the other on Monday morning. Three more suspects have been detained and are being questioned. Police said the interrogation of the earlier arrested men helped them establish the prime accused’s role in the crime and track his location.
The Crime That Shook Bengal
The 12-year-old girl left her home in the Surjyapur Haat area of Baruipur on Saturday afternoon, July 4, to buy a gift for a friend’s birthday. She never returned. Her body was found the next morning, stuffed inside a sack and dumped in a pond near her house.
CCTV footage from a local shop, timestamped around 4:44 pm on July 4, showed the child walking along a paved road beside a man later identified as Prabhas Mondal. The footage helped investigators map her final movements and connect the accused to the crime.
Autopsy Reveals Chilling Details
The preliminary post-mortem report has confirmed the family’s worst fears. According to a senior police officer, the findings revealed injuries consistent with sexual assault, along with bite and scratch marks on the child’s body. The girl suffered a severe head injury, caused either by a heavy object or by her head being struck against a hard surface.
Most disturbingly, the report found water in her lungs and stomach, indicating she was still alive when she was thrown into the pond.
Lynching, Blockades And Prohibitory Orders
The discovery of the body on Sunday triggered an explosion of public fury. Villagers blocked the Baruipur-Joynagar Road and railway tracks on the Sealdah-Namkhana route, burnt tyres, and damaged police vehicles. Amid the chaos, a man suspected of involvement in the crime was beaten by a mob and later died in hospital. He has been identified in some reports as 26-year-old Indrajit Tanti. Police are investigating the lynching separately, along with the attacks on police personnel.
The administration has since imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in Baruipur, Narendrapur, and Sonarpur, with heavy police deployment across the affected areas. Officials have appealed to the public not to believe rumours and to cooperate with the investigation. Local anger, however, has persisted, fuelled partly by unverified reports that some persons detained earlier in the case were released on bail.
SIT Formed, NCW Steps In
A six-member Special Investigation Team, led by an Additional Superintendent of Police, has been constituted to probe the case, with the State Task Force also assisting.
The National Commission for Women has taken suo motu cognisance of the incident, expressing grave concern over both the crime and the mob violence that followed. The Commission has directed the Director General of Police, West Bengal, to submit a detailed Action Taken Report within seven days.
Political Temperature Rises
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari spoke to the victim’s father over the phone, assured him that no culprit would be spared, and invited the family to meet officials at the state administration headquarters on Tuesday, July 7. The father has demanded the death penalty for all the accused.
The case has also stirred the political pot, with former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee holding a protest near her Kalighat residence, where heavy deployment of state police and central forces has been in place since Sunday night.
What Happens Next
With the prime accused in custody, the investigation now moves to establishing the full sequence of events, the role of each accused, and whether more people were involved. The final post-mortem and forensic reports, the court production of Anand Sardar, the father’s meeting with officials on Tuesday, and the separate probe into the lynching are the key developments to watch.
