Kolkata, July 6 (IANS) A fresh mystery surfaced at Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district in West Bengal on Monday afternoon after the body of a youth was recovered from the same pond where the body of a 12-year-old girl, allegedly raped and murdered, was recovered on Sunday morning.

The youth, whose body was recovered, has been identified as Krishnakanta Haldar. The body has been sent for post-mortem, confirmed the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Baruipur, Abhishek Ranjan.

However, it is not clear whether the recovery of the youth’s body on Monday afternoon is related to the recovery of the minor girl’s body from the same pond on Sunday morning.

It is also not clear whether the youth is the same person who was reportedly lynched by a violent mob on Sunday while protesting against the minor girl’s death and whose body had been missing since then.

Ranjan said that the family members of the deceased youth had been contacted and an investigation is on to ascertain whether he had any past enmity with anyone.

Meanwhile, two of the three arrested, namely Pravas Mondal and Dibakar Sardar, were produced before a district court in Baruipur on Monday, and the court remanded both of them to 15 days’ police custody.

The third and last accused arrested in the case, Sanada Naskar, who was arrested on Monday and is suspected to be the prime accused, will be produced before the same court in Baruipur on Tuesday.

The Chief Minister already said on Monday afternoon that the state administration would make an all-out effort to ensure stringent punishment, including capital punishment, for the accused in the case.

However, at the same time, he claimed that there was a communal angle behind the reported lynching of a youth but refused to spell out further details.

He also said that Sunday’s violent protest demonstrations over the recovery of the girl’s body had followed somewhat the same pattern as previous instances of violent protests, such as those against the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019 and the recent protests against the Waqf Amendment Bill.

The body of the 12-year-old girl was recovered from a pond on Sunday morning. Family members of the deceased girl claimed that she was raped and murdered.

Meanwhile, apprehending fresh tension in the Baruipur area over the incident, the Baruipur Police District had already imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in areas under three police stations within its jurisdiction.

–IANS

src/pgh