A 12-year-old schoolgirl from Malda district was gang-raped by three youths on Saturday.

Police have arrested the trio. The administration has formed a three-member inquiry panel to probe the incident.

Sources said the Class VIstudent of a school with only one teacher went to the institution on Saturday.

There, she heard the teacher was ill and on leave, but the school was open for the midday meal. There, the trio in their early 20s, including a friend of her brother, offered chocolates to her and her friend and took them to an empty classroom. Her friend somehow fled and ran to the victim’s mother.

The mother reached the classroom and rescued her child from the youths. Later, she filed a gang rape complaint with the police.

“By Sunday, all three youths were nabbed. The girl’s medical test was done. We will record statements of the girl and her friends,” said Malda SP Pradeep Kumar Yadav.

On Tuesday, minister of state for NB development Sabina Yeasmin spoke to the mother. “She urged me to get her child admitted to a boarding school,” Yeasmin said, adding she asked officials to identify schools with one teacher.

Molest cuffs

The headmaster of an Alipurduar school was arrested on Tuesday for molesting a 12-year-old tribal student on Monday. Produced in court, he was sent in police custody for four days.

2 killed

Raiganj: Two youths returning home on a cycle after work died after apparently being hit by an unidentified vehicle in North Dinajpur on Monday night.

Abhiram Singha (28) and Sujit Ghosh (24) were the staff at a grocery shop in Tungidighi which is under the jurisdiction of Karandighi police station. They were cycling home at Sadipur along NH12 when they died around 10pm.

The duo were spotted lying and bleeding on the road. Singha and Ghosh were declared brought dead at the rural hospital in Karandighi.

KOUSIK SEN