The principal of a school in Jharkhand Khunti district, from where five men abducted and allegedly gang-raped five non-governmental organisation workers on June 19 had asked the women to go with the accused and later told them to not report the incident, Additional Director General of Police RK Malik said on Tuesday.

The women were performing a street play at the school in Kochang village, about 90 km from Ranchi, when the accused took them to a nearby forest at gunpoint, raped them, made videos of the act and threatened to distribute them.

The senior police official said there was “concrete evidence” against Father Alfonso Alien, the head of the missionary school, PTI reported. His statement came a day after Bishop Mascarenhas, the general secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, alleged that Alfonso was being framed.

“The police never takes action on the basis of religion or caste,” Malik said. “They do it within the framework of the law and the police have done the same in the case of the gang rape. “The allegations are completely false as Father Alfonso had called the troupe to perform a play in the missionary school. When the criminals came, Father Alfonso asked them to leave out the nuns and told the five women to go with the culprits for two hours.”

The police booked Alien for not reporting the incident but he was let go after he furnished a personal bond. Two of the accused – Ajub Sandi and Ashish Longo, both residents of West Singhbhum district – who were spotted during an identification parade were arrested on Saturday. The police are looking for the others.