Kolkata: Prabhas Mondal, 38, the first of the four men arrested in the Baruipur minor rape-and-murder case before being shot dead in the wee hours of Wednesday, was always flirting with the wrong side of the law.Investigators said his ‘encounter’ will have little bearing on the case. Prabhas was in police custody (he was sent to 14-day police custody by a Baruipur court) for the past 72 hours. He has already given his statement to police; his statements not only led to the recovery of the body, but also the arrest of the three others.According to his family and neighbours, Prabhas was very much into bootlegging and even acted as both a carrier and consumer of drugs. He was pulled up by the Baruipur police even in the past. But Prabhas was not someone who took these warnings seriously. Known to cling to those in politics, he was the one who switched party affiliations often. It thus surprised none after a viral video on social media showed Prabhas being escorted by a local BJP mandal president when the search for the victim was on early on Sunday.Senior officers stated that Prabhas was the first break in the case as he was the last person with whom the victim was found alive and that his statement resulted in the arrest of two other accused. “He claimed that the co-accused offered him money (Rs 10,000) to bring the child to them. Further investigation is being done in this regard,” he added.The Baruipur police — and the SIT probing the case — have claimed that the death will not impact the case. “We have collected all necessary forensic evidence and had mostly finished his questioning. All the three other accused are in our custody. The necessary footage has been seized and sent to FSL that proves his direct link in the crime. Hence, there is no way that our probe will be affected,” said a DIG at Bhawani Bhawan.Senior advocate Jayanta Narayan Chatterjee too felt that the case will not be affected by this death. “While there are several social and legal fallouts, the fact that there are three more accused in the case means the investigators have access to more evidence. However, there are a number of questions which the cop need to answer.”A resident of the same Suryapur area, his family includes his mother, father, wife and a son. His father is unwell, his mother is a homemaker, and his wife works as a domestic help.However, after Prabhas’s name was linked to the rape and murder case, his wife left his parental home and returned to her own family with their son. Only Prabhas’s parents remain at the house now.Sources said Prabhas had no steady job and did whatever work he could find. At times, he drove a van, his mother Sandhya Mondal said.
