Kolkata: Call center employees gang-rape colleague at office party
Amid reports of a string of sexual assault cases across India, a woman was gang-raped in a Kolkata guesthouse on Saturday last week. The incident occurred on Saturday (June 11), but the accused persons were only recently arrested by the police. At least three people have been arrested, including two men and a woman, for the gang-rape of their co-worker at an office party.
Charges have been pressed against Bhaskar Banerjee, Chiranjit Sutradhar, and Indrani Das, all co-workers of the victim. According to reports, they purportedly spiked her drinks before raping the woman multiple times. The victim is a 30-year-old BPO executive with an IT firm. The office party took place in a guesthouse located in Kolkata's Chinar Park, where the company booked the entire sixth floor.
After the party ended on Saturday, the survivor went home and mustered the courage to file a complaint after four days. "Based on the woman's complaint, we have arrested three of her colleagues...and charged them with gang-rape," stated a Bidhannagar City Police officer. The officer also added that the police were investigating the nature of the BPO's work and whether it was entirely legal.
The complainant stated that only eight people attended the party, six of whom were women, and all of whom were members of a telemarketing crew. Their team leader was Das and their senior managers were Sutradhar and Banerjee. The survivor told police that Das escorted her to one of the rooms, where Sutradhar and Banerjee were present after the drinking began at the party.
"They all started drinking. The woman complained that she started feeling drowsy after a while and passed out. When she woke up, she found herself nude and lying on the bed, alone," the aforementioned police officer reportedly stated. "She went back home and lodged a complaint against the two men and the woman on Wednesday as she believes she was raped," the officer added.
According to the police, a medico-legal examination was performed to confirm the victim's claims, and the accused were picked up from their workplace within an hour of the filing of the police complaint. "We are grilling the arrested trio and have also approached the hotel to get the CCTV footage of that particular day," the Kolkata Police stated.
