Durgapur/Kolkata: Two accused in the Durgapur gang-rape case, Sk Riyazuddin and Sk Safiq, moved a plea before a local court on Sunday for permission to confess their role in the Oct 10 incident. Police officers involved in the probe said if the court accepts the plea, the two may be treated as approvers during the trial.The complainant, a 23-year-old MBBS student at a private medical college in Durgapur, was allegedly gang-raped shortly after she had stepped out of the campus with a classmate on Oct 10 evening for dinner. Riyazuddin, Safiq and four other men, including the classmate, Wasef Ali, are in custody. The court sent Riyazuddin and Safiq, who had been in police remand since their arrest, to jail custody on Sunday for two days so they could think over their plea for confession. The court will pass an order on Oct 21.The appeal was filed under Section 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, which spells out the procedure for a judicial magistrate to record confessions related to an ongoing criminal investigation. Riyazuddin worked as a guard at the medical college where the survivor studied till he was sacked five years ago for indiscipline. Safiq worked at a local factory.In a detailed statement to police and a magistrate, the survivor said one man pinned her to the ground and raped her in a desolate forested spot, while two others watched. Two other men, who police later identified as Riyazuddin and Safiq, arrived at the spot later.But instead of helping her, they called the rapists to the spot and the five demanded Rs 3,000 from the student. They took Rs 200 that the survivor was carrying and also snatched her cellphone.The other three accused are Nasiruddin Sk, Apu Bauri and Firdaus Sk.The survivor has mentioned in the complaint that classmate Wasef Ali molested her and fled when she was struggling to fight off the attackers.The maximum punishment for gang rape is 20 years in jail and for extortion, seven years in jail.Partha Ghosh, the lawyer representing the survivor, said, “We have filed an appeal that a test identification parade be done quickly.”
