Park Street rape key accused held in Greater Noida

The prime accused in the Park Street gangrape case and his accomplice were arrested in a mid-night raid by the Kolkata police from a flat in Greater Noida Thursday night.

Kader Khan and his accomplice Ali Khan had come to a relative’s rented flat two days ago. Kader had been absconding since the crime took place over four years ago. A team of the Greater Noida and Kolkata police conducted raid and arrested the duo from their hideouts.

Kader is one of the five accused in the brutal gangrape of Suzette Jordan, a woman’s right activist in Kolkata’s Park Street.

The gangrape, which happened at gunpoint on the night of February 5, 2012, in a moving SUV on Park Street, sent shockwaves across the country.

Three members of the gang — Ruman Khan, Naser Khan and Sumit Bajaj — were earlier arrested, convicted and sent to jail, while the victim died during the trial.

Kader told the police that he had come to Greater Noida for some business purposes. The Kolkata police took the duo on transit remand and returned to Kolkata on Friday.

Arresting Kader was, however, not an easy task. He gave several slips to the cops in the past four years. He changed his hideouts, which included multiple locations in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

The police said though Kader never left the country, a lookout notice was issued against him in 2013. A week ago, the police learnt he moved to Delhi from Sitamarhi, Bihar, and was in touch with his family in Kolkata after running out of cash. Tracking Kader’s family members’ mobile phone numbers, he was traced to Ghaziabad.