KOLKATA: A grainy 13-second CCTV clip has emerged as the last known visual of an unsuspecting 11-year-old girl who had stepped out to buy a birthday gift for a friend in West Bengal’s Baruipur, hours before she was allegedly gang-raped, brutally assaulted and thrown alive into a pond.The footage, now a crucial piece of evidence in the investigation, shows a man wearing a red T-shirt, dark trousers and a blue cap walking ahead on the left side of a quiet road, with the girl following him. A date stamp in the upper-right corner indicates the footage was recorded on 04-07-2026.Police have identified the man in the CCTV clip as Prabhas Mondal, one of the accused in the case.The girl’s body, stuffed inside a sack, was recovered from a pond in the Surjyapur Haat area of South 24 Parganas, around 25km from Kolkata, on Sunday, a day after she went missing.She had left her home in Baruipur on Saturday to buy a birthday gift for a friend. When she failed to return, her family lodged a missing complaint with the police.Hours after the body was recovered, a man was beaten to death by an angry mob on suspicion of involvement in the girl’s rape and murder.A senior police officer on Monday said preliminary findings of the post-mortem revealed injury marks on the girl’s private parts, besides scratch and bite marks on different parts of her body.The examination also indicated that the girl’s head had either been struck with a heavy object or banged against a hard surface, the officer said, citing the post-mortem report.The report further suggested that the child was alive when she was thrown into the pond. Water was found in her lungs and stomach during the examination.Police sources said excessive bleeding from the head injury, along with drowning, led to her death.Meanwhile, West Bengal Police arrested the key accused, Anand Sardar, on Monday, taking the total number of arrests in the case to three.“The investigation is at a crucial stage. We are examining all evidence. The preliminary post-mortem findings are being corroborated with other material collected during the probe,” a senior police officer said.Sardar was picked up by Baruipur district police from the town’s market area in South 24 Parganas following a search operation.“Sardar, who is the prime accused in the case, has been arrested. He was traced and apprehended from Baruipur market area. With his arrest, the total number of persons arrested in connection with the case has gone up to three,” the policeman told PTI.The accused was picked up through his mobile phone tower location, he added.Police said Sardar would be produced before a local court and taken into police custody for further interrogation.A six-member Special Investigating Team (SIT) has been formed to probe the case.One person was arrested on Sunday night, while another was nabbed on Monday morning.“Along with them, we have detained three others. Our officers are questioning them for more details. In fact, we got to know about the prime accused’s role in the crime as well as his possible location,” the officer told PTI.Police also examined CCTV footage from the area, which purportedly showed the girl being taken away by four persons.“We are pursuing all available leads. CCTV footage, forensic evidence and witness statements are being examined. Those involved will be identified and arrested at the earliest,” the officer said.(With agency inputs)
