Three schoolgirls were allegedly raped after being held hostage in Tangail’s Ghatail upazila on Sunday. 

Police yesterday arrested four suspected criminals. Of them, the victims have  identified Yousuf, 25, and Babu, 26, after seeing their photos, Amir Khasru, assistant superintendent of police (Gopalpur Circle), told The Daily Star.

Police, however, did not reveal the identities of the two others “for the sake of investigation”.

“We are conducting drives to arrest rest of the criminals,” the ASP said. 

Father of one of the victims yesterday filed a case with Ghatail Police Station against six to seven unnamed people.

According to the case statement, four girls and two boys went to Jharka forest area in the upazila for an outing on Sunday morning. 

Some six to seven local youths held the group hostage and demanded ransom from their families.

As the families refused to pay the ransom, the perpetrators drove the two boys away and raped three of the girls, the statement said.  

The rapists spared one of them perhaps because she was known to the perpetrators, it mentioned. 

Following the incident, the four girls took shelter in the maternal grandfather’s place of one of the victims.

A police team rescued the girls later in the day and took them to the police station.

The three girls were sent to Tangail General Hospital yesterday for medical tests, ASP Amir said.