Visva Bharati sexual assault accused sent to police custody

A West Bengal court Sunday sent three Visva Bharati University students, arrested for alleged sexual harassment of a female student from the northeast, to three days' police custody, police said.

"We sought seven days' custody but the court after hearing the prosecution and defence counsel, remanded the three accused to three days' police custody," said Bolpur sub-divisional police officer Surya Pratap Yadav.

Accused of sexually assaulting the fine arts student and blackmailing her, the trio was arrested Saturday and booked for criminal intimidation and outraging the modesty of a woman.

The accused have claimed innocence.

"We are innocent, we have been falsely implicated," one of the accused said at the court premises while being taken away by police.

The university founded by Asia's first Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in Bolpur town in Birbhum district, Saturday suspended the three and lodged a police complaint following an internal probe into the incident.

However, the victim's father has accused a university official of offering him money to hush up the matter and not to approach the police.

The West Bengal Commission for Women has already taken cognizance of the incident and said it will seek the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.