The Morang District Court on Monday extended the custody of five men police has accused of raping two 14-year-old girls.

Five men–four local men of the Sundarharaicha Municipality where the incident took place and one hotel operator from the same municipality–were arrested on Sunday for allegedly raping the two minors on Friday.

According to Inspector Khagendra Dhamala, chief of the Area Police Office, the minors, after finding out that their classes had been cancelled on Friday, went to Brindaban Gaushala, a tourist spot in the municipality.

The same day police had reached Gaushala on a regular patrol since the area is frequented by drug abusers, said Dhamala. “The two girls were also in Gaushala when we reached there on Friday. They ran away along with others and left their school bags behind.”

Dhamala said that the police collected the bags and took them to the police office. “Four of the accused lured the girls to Gachiya-based Durbar Inn Hotel in the municipality in the pretext of recovering the bags from the police. As per preliminary investigations, the girls were held captive inside the hotel for the whole night on Friday,” said Dhamala.

The incident came to light when the girls went back to their families on Saturday and informed them about the rape incident.

“The accused were arrested on Sunday following a complaint from the girls,” said Dhamala. “Some local leaders were aware of the incident and were trying to cover it up when the police intervened and investigated.”

Police have arrested the hotel operator after investigations showed that the incident occurred inside the hotel.

Dhamala said that the police is moving ahead with the investigations on rape charge following the extension of the custody of the accused by the district court.