Doublemooring police arrested the culprit, Mohammad Abdur Rahman, 42, the same day and sent him to jail. Sources said Rahman, the Arabic teacher of the girl, is the president of Mogaltuli ward unit Olama Dal, religious wing of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

The incident came to light yesterday noon when the family members took the girl to the forensic department of Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for medical test.

Sources said the incident occurred at around 11.00am on Thursday when the girl came to the house of Abdur Rahman at Yasin Ali Lane in Mogaltuli for Arabic lesson. Rahman, father of three sons, was then home alone after sending his wife and sons to his in-law's house the previous day. He took the girl in a room on the pretext of catching a hen for her and violated her. He threatened her not to reveal anything to anybody.

However, the girl told everything to her grandmother, who immediately informed the senior people and the police of the incident. The locals, badly shaken by the news, moved promptly to catch the culprit and handed him over to the police.

Noor Nahar lodged a case against Abdur Rahman under section 4 (kha) of Women and Child Repression Control Act-2000.

Sub Inspector of Doublemooring Police Station, Badrul Alam, while talking to this correspondent over phone yesterday said, "Such a heinous crime against a minor is simply unimaginable. I will handle the case with utmost sincerity to make sure the criminal gets exemplary punishment."