Kolkata: Three persons have been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor at a guest house in south Kolkata’s Golpark area, while the fourth accused is absconding.

The accused- all teenagers- had met the victim through social media and invited her for lunch at a mall in Rashbehari avenue on the afternoon of December 19, last year, after which they took her to a guest house and allegedly raped her.

“The victim informed her parents yesterday after which they lodged a complaint with the Rabindra Sarobar police station,” said a senior police officer.

Three of the accused were traced through their social media accounts, though the fourth has not been traced yet.

A case has been lodged under sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act and all three accused were remanded to police custody after they were produced in court.

“The accused had allegedly threatened her not to speak about the incident with either her parents, any other family members or friends. For four months the girl was behaving oddly which alerted her parents that something was wrong. Despite repeated questioning for the last four months, she had not revealed a word till last evening,” said the police officer.

Though it will not be possible to gather physical evidence of the sexual assault given the long gap between the date of the alleged crime and when it was finally reported, a police officer said the victim’s statement would be recorded under section 164, while they would look for other evidence like social media chat and witnesses at the mall where the five had met to establish the alleged crime.