Alipurduar/Jaigaon, April 3: A 15-year-old girl from a Dooars tea estate has accused a Group D employee of Birpara State General Hospital of raping her in his staff quarters.

The girl from the Birpara tea garden had been staying at the hospital with her elder sister, who is admitted there.

In an FIR lodged with the Birpara police station, the girl has also accused two drivers of private ambulances of threatening her with dire consequences if she told anyone about the incident. “It happened on the night of March 31,” she said.

The girl kept quiet about if for a couple of days, before going to police last night.

Ishan Das, the main accused, and the drivers, Papan Sengupta and Ram Gupta, are absconding, said the police.

“We have started a case of rape against Das, while the other two are accused of helping the criminal,” said Alipurduar additional police superintendent Sabyasachi Raman Misra.

The girl’s sister is being treated at the hospital for a stomach problem and an infection on her leg.

“Female patients are allowed to have an attendant, so the girl was spending the night with her sister at the ward,” said hospital superintendent Arun Kumar Bala.

On Monday, she had gone out of the patients’ ward to get drinking water, when Das allegedly intercepted her and took her to his quarters. His wife and child were not there at that time, said Bala.

The girl said after Das raped her in the quarters, the ambulance drivers told her to keep her mouth shut, or she would be harmed.

“The drivers are Das’s friends,” said the hospital superintendent.

The state general hospital has 100 beds and caters for patients coming from Birpara, Madarihat, Nagrakata and Bamanhat blocks.