Birbhum police on Monday arrested all four accused, including two underage boys, in connection with the alleged gangrape of a 16-year-old tribal girl at a Santiniketan village last Friday.

The minors were produced before the juvenile justice board in Suri and sent to a safe home there. The two adult accused were produced before a Bolpur court and remanded in 10 days of police custody.

“We have arrested all the four accused and taken two of them in police custody for interrogation,” said Nagendra Nath Tripathi, the Birbhum police chief.

The tribal girl had gone to a rural fair last Thursday evening with her friend. After that, when she was sitting with her friend near river Kopai, these four persons allegedly beat up her friend, took her away to a deserted place and raped her.

Police said all four were arrested from Parui police station area and had gone to a rural fair where they saw the girl with her friend and followed them to the banks of the Kopai.

Police sources said they faced trouble in arresting the culprits as neither the victim or her friend could reveal the identity or detail of the accused. Police had taken help of the CID sketch artist to draw the accused based on the description of the victim.

Two CPM-backed platforms — the West Bengal Samajik Nyay Mancha and the West Bewngal Adivasi Adhikari Mancha —headed by the party’s politburo member Ramchandra Dome on Monday submitted a deputation to subdivisional officer of Bolpur demanding stringent punishment of the arrested persons.

“We want a strong vigilance by police to stop such incidents where poor girls, even minors are becoming victims. The ruling Trinamul can’t deny their responsibility... We demand stringent action,” said Dome.

SFI state secretary Srijan Bhattacharyya also met the victim’s family members on Monday evening and condemned the rape.