Like many Bengali families, we also have a property in Hazaribagh but it remains under lock and key unless we visit the house. It seems some local people have taken advantage of our absence Tutu Bose’s son Srinjoy, also a Trinamul MPon their Hazaribagh house (in picture above) where the girl was raped

Hazaribagh, Aug. 29: A teenaged schoolgirl was allegedly abducted in broad daylight by two men and gang-raped by them and two of their friends for two days at a vacant summer house owned by an influential businessman-politician of Bengal, barely 50 metres from her own home.

In less than 12 hours from the time the Class XI student gave her statement to sadar police this morning, a team led by OC Dinesh Kumar arrested two of the alleged rapists around 9.30pm.

The victim had told DSP (sadar) Arvind Kumar Singh and OC Dinesh Kumar that Dhanu Ram, the son of an inspector (vigilance) Arjun Ram, and his friend Sonu, gagged her on August 26 afternoon from near her Railway Colony home in Deepugarha.

Then, they took her to the summer house of Swapan Sadhan Bose, popularly known as Tutu Bose, a Trinamul Rajya Sabha MP.

In her statement, the girl added the two men were joined by their friends Ritesh and Anurag Basu. All the four, in their early 30s, raped her repeatedly over two days.

On August 27 evening, she was also taken out of the house in a van for a spin around Hazaribagh Lake, brought back and gang-raped through the night.

They released her yesterday morning, but warned her to keep quiet about the incident and not go to the police.

Once home, the girl, when questioned by her parents about her two-day absence, broke down and told the story to her mother.

Her father, who accompanied her to sadar thana this morning to file an FIR, told The Telegraph he had approached the police on August 27 to report that she was missing. But, the police apparently refused to entertain him, saying he should “search for the girl” on his own.

Police have denied the father’s allegations. “A wireless message was circulated to all thanas about the missing girl,” sadar OC Kumar said.

As of now, Sonu and Ritesh have been held, while Dhanu and Anurag are absconding.

It is not known how the four got the keys to the Bose house. The police are yet to establish how they got into the Boses’ summer house.

The caretaker, whose last name “Bhuiyan” is known to the police, is missing. When the victim led DSP (sadar) Singh and other policemen to the house today, they could only find empty liquor bottles.

Dhanu was booked for an ATM break-in last year. He was freed on bail and has a dodgy reputation.

Tutu Bose, who hails from an influential cargo business family and is also the honorary president of Mohun Bagan Athletic Club, had bought the five-acre property in Hazaribagh a quarter of a century ago.

Members of his family, when contacted in Calcutta, said they were not aware of the incident.

“Like many Bengali families, we also have a property in Hazaribagh but it remains under lock-and-key unless we visit the house. It seems some local people have taken advantage of our absence. We are trying to gather more information on what happened,” Bose’s son Srinjoy, also a Trinamul MP, said.

The two late night arrests — Sonu and Ritesh were nabbed from the same locality of the crime — have redeemed the police somewhat. Even in the afternoon, the probe seemed to move slowly. The girl, taken to sadar hospital for a medical exam in the afternoon, was forced to wait for over three hours. Her angry relatives beat up a nurse, which led to a sadar police team being called. Finally, her medical test was performed in the evening.

Congress legislator from Hazaribagh Saurabh Narayan Singh admitted the district had law and order and administrative problems. “There is lack of sensitivity among hospital staff. I want the dismissal of doctors and nurses as well as of civil surgeon Vinay Kumar for the behaviour meted out to a rape victim,” he said.