In a shocking development in the Khardah woman confinement case in West Bengal’s Howrah district, investigators on Monday said the accused mother-son duo has likely fled abroad, possibly to Thailand, based on initial findings.
A senior police officer claimed that the woman had made multiple cash withdrawals from her bank account, which authorities believe may have been used to finance their escape plan.
"The accused woman had visited the bank several times and withdrew money. It seems the funds were used to facilitate their plan to abscond. We suspect the woman and her son have escaped to Bangkok," the officer said.
The mother-son duo is named in an FIR lodged for allegedly forcibly detaining and assaulting a 23-year-old woman at their residence in Domjur, Howrah district, after she refused to act in a pornographic film.
The victim, a resident of Sodepur in North 24 Parganas district, is undergoing treatment at the College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital.
Police sources claimed that the accused woman, along with her son, was also running a film production house where "soft pornographic reels" were shot.
Investigators are also probing allegations that they were running a sex racket from the same premises.
The victim alleged that the woman used to torture her more during her "captivity" at their Domjur residence.
The victim had come into contact with the man from Domjur through Facebook last year. He had promised her a job if she came to his residence.
Upon visiting his Domjur residence, she was allegedly assaulted when she refused to become a bar dancer, and was instead forced to do domestic chores, the victim's parents said in the police complaint at Khardah police station.
The victim also claimed that her mobile phone was taken away by the accused.