A police inspector in Odisha’s tribal-dominated Sundargarh district was suspended on Friday over his alleged involvement in the gang rape and subsequent abortion of a 13-year-old girl over a period of two months.

Anand Chandra Majhi, the inspector-in-charge of Biramitrapur police station in Sundargarh district, was suspended a day after a case was lodged against him and five other people, including a doctor, for the alleged gang-rape and abortion attempt, said Kavita Jalan, the deputy inspector general of police (Western Range).

The girl had come to witness a fair at Biramitrapur area on March 25 but it was cancelled at the last moment due to the lockdown. The girl failed to return home and was roaming near the bus stand when a police patrolling team saw her and brought her to the police station.

Inspector Majhi allegedly raped her at the police station. She was dropped at her home the next day.

However, she was called to the police station regularly and raped by the inspector and other police officials. The girl later got pregnant following which Majhi tried to abort her foetus.

S Jena, the district child protection officer of Sundargarh, who came to know about the crime, lodged a complaint with Raiboga police against Majhi, another police personnel, the doctor who conducted the abortion at a community health centre, the stepfather of the girl and two others.