Guilty in Dhupguri rape and murder will not be spared : Deb

Jalpaiguri(WB), Sep 23: West Bengal Minister Goutam Deb today said none would be spared if found guilty in the alleged rape and murder of a teenage girl following a kangaroo court hearing at Dhupguri.

"None will be spared even if they are from Trinamool Congress," Deb, the North Bengal Development Minister, said apparently eluding to allegations in various quarters that the TMC councillor Namita Ray and her husband who had convened the meeting and were present in it, were moving around scot free.

"This (the incident) is a deplorable incident ... It is not a matter of politics ... Many people are indulging in it. I don't want to comment on it," he told newsmen here.

Arrangements would be made for the girl's family members to meet Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee if they wanted to, Deb who visited their home during the day, said.

The girl, a standard ten student, was allegedly raped and murdered and her disrobed body was found near the railway tracks on September 2 at Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri district after she tried to save her father from being beaten up at the village kangaroo court the night before for failing to pay for a rented tractor.

She had rushed out of her house pleading with the villagers not to beat her father but a person known to her took her away from the meeting and she went missing since then.

After identifying the body, the girl's father had lodged an FIR against 13 people at Dhupguri police station for rape, murder and kidnapping of his daughter. Of the 13 five have been arrested, four surrendered in the court and search is on for the rest.

PTI