Twenty-six days have elapsed since a Meghalaya police officer accused of raping two minor girls escaped from custody but police have no idea where he is, an official said Thursday.
Nurul Islam, who was in charge of the Ampati police station, was arrested June 1 on charges of raping two sisters. The next morning, he escaped from police custody at Tura town in the West Garo Hills.
"We have no specific information about his whereabouts (but) he is very much here in the (northeatern) region," Ramachandran Muthu, the district police chief of South West Garo Hills, told IANS.
"Our team has gone to two and three places in Assam where we suspected Islam is hiding but we have not been able to trace him."
He said police had questioned Islam's wife and his relatives in a bid to glean information about his whereabouts.
"They (family members) are not cooperating with us and that's why we have not been able to trace Islam," the official said.
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Chief Minister Mukul Sangma admitted that there were "lapses" on the part of the police in not being able to arrest Islam.
Ampati, the assembly constituency of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, is 375 km from the state capital.
While a non-bailable arrest warrant has been issued against Islam, Muthu said a petition has been filed in the court to declare the suspended officer as a proclaimed offender.
Islam allegedly raped a 14-year-old at the Ampati police station March 13. On March 31, he raped her sister, 17, at gun point at their house. The officer threatened to kill both if they dared to inform anyone.