Woman commits suicide after threats from rape accused

Kolkata: Unable to withstand the constant threats from the man accused of raping her, a woman on Monday committed suicide in South 24 Parganas.

Subhendu Pal, who is out on bail, had reportedly been threatening the woman and her family to withdraw the complaint filed against him and his associates.

The 22-year-old consumed pesticide at her Vidyanagar home. She was declared brought dead at Amtala district hospital. She was allegedly raped on the night of October 13 when she was returning home from idol immersion of Durga Puja.

Shubhendu and another accused Kartik Jana took her to a bush on the pretext of escorting her home and raped her. While the two accused were later arrested, Shubhendu walked out on bail two weeks ago.

The victim’s brother alleged, “Since then Shubhendu was threatening my sister and us. He said there was no need for her to remain alive anymore. He even tried to bribe us to withdraw our complaint. We again complained to the police which however took no action.”

Meanwhile a youth was arrested by the Parnashree police for sexually assaulting a minor girl on December 14. The victim, a 15-year-old, had told her parents about it four days later, following which a complaint was registered. Prashant Nayak (22) of Bangosree Pally was arrested on Monday.