West Bengal: 'Chain killer' Kamruzzaman gets death penalty for rape and murder of minor girl

KOLKATA: The Kalna additional district judge court on Monday delivered death sentence to an accused convicted in a rape and murder case.
The accused — Kamruzzaman, also known as the “chain killer”, is accused in several other cases in which he tried to kill victims by strangling them with an iron chain. The judge found him guilty in a 2019 case in which he had raped and then murdered a 15-year-old girl in Singerkone.
The case dates back to May 30 last year when the victim, a student of Class 10, was found raped and murdered at her residence. The girl came back home while her mother was out in the evening. When her mother entered the house, the she found the girl soaked in blood and lying unconscious on the bed.
There were injury marks on her head and body and a cloth was tied around her neck. She was rushed to the district hospital while she battled for life.
Doctors attending the girl deposed in the court that she was hit on the head and assaulted with a hard and blunt object like an iron rod or wooden stick.
“Her forehead was fractured and she was strangulated as well. Medical reports showed that she was victim to a forceful sexual assault. The cruelty involved in the crime makes it rarest to rare cases,” said Soumyajit Raha, special public prosecutor. The girl succumbed to her injuries within a fortnight.
Based on the neighbours’ accounts, cops started a search and recovered an iron rod, which they claim to have been used by the accused, from a bush near the victim’s residence. After one of the neighbours’, who saw the accused entering the house, recollected the number plate of the bike he was riding, cops started a hunt for Kamruzzaman. He was arrested within a week.
In the court, Kamruzzaman denied charges and pleaded innocence. A total of 35 people deposed in connection with the case. On Monday ADJ Tapan Kumar Mandal pronounced death penalty for the convict.
“His name was added to the charge sheet hastily and it needs to be re-investigated. Police did not try to track his mobile, nor any CCTV footage near the victim’s house was checked. Question is also raised about the authenticity of the fingerprints claimed to have been found on a few broken glass pieces. We will move the higher court challenging the verdict,” said Kamruzzaman’s lawyer Arindam Vajpayee.