GURAP (HOOGHLY): The probe into the mysterious death and burial of a 32-year-old woman in a Hooghly rehabilitation home has unearthed a horror house where inmates were regularly raped and tortured by outsiders. It was virtually a free for all — anyone could walk in after sunset and do whatever he pleased with the women, who are either mentally challenged or speech and hearing impaired, sources said.

Police said it is quite possible that Guriya , whose body was exhumed from the Khajurdaha centre on Wednesday, was sexually tortured before she was killed. Her body was covered with injuries.

On Thursday, inmates repeatedly took the name of Shyamal Ghosh , a history-sheeter, as the prime accused in the Guriya burial case. Police raided his house in the nearby Bhowanipore locality, but he is missing since the burial incident made headlines. Shyamal is a close confidante of the secretary of the home, Uday Chand Kumar, and had “free access after sunset”, say sources. The inmates have told police that he regularly abused them sexually and tortured anyone who refused to follow his orders. There are 50 inmates in the rehab home, the youngest only 15 years old.

Police suspect Guriya fell victim to Shyamal’s lust and was beaten so badly that she died on July 1. Preliminary probe shows she had a grievous head injury. Uday then hired two locals youths — Torumol Das alias Sunny and Prafull Malik — to dig a hole and bury Guriya to hush up the death. They were each paid Rs 150. Sunny and Praful, who used to work as contract labourers for the home, were arrested on Thursday.

The burial was carried out in desperation as it would have been risky to take Guriya’s body to a crematorium, where they would be asked for a death certificate.

Also, people would ask questions if they saw a body being taking out. Guriya’s death would have remained hidden but for an inmate who tipped off an NGO that passed the information to a news channel.

"Shyamal was a henchman of Uday Chand. Uday is a partner in the crime. He tried everything he could to save Shyamal. He got hold of a doctor to issue the death certificate citing cardio-respiratory failure. The certificate appears to be fake. We are taking the help of experts to ascertain whether it was forged," said Hooghly additional SP Tathagata Basu . Police are yet to find the doctor who issued the certificate on July 3.

Apart from Uday and the two grave diggers, police have arrested cook Naznia Khatoon and gateman Madhur Patra. All five were remanded in police custody for 14 days. Guriya’s body is being brought to NRS Hospital in Kolkata for autopsy because the district hospital infrastructure cannot handle such a badly decomposed corpse.

Uday claims he is being framed but police say they have found shocking irregularities at the home, which stands on a sprawling plot beside a pond, 1.5km from Durgapur Expressway. The social welfare department cancelled the licence of the home on Thursday on the basis of a report from the district magistrate.

The Congress and the Left staged demonstrations to protest the alleged torture of inmates at the rehab home. "Not only the one in Khajurdaha, most of the homes for the destitute are in a miserable condition. Sexual abuse is common in homes for women. In case of physically challenged and mentally handicapped women, it is even worse. They cannot protest against the abuse. No home can run without government licence or funding but there is hardly any monitoring," said Shampa Sengupta of Shruti, an organization that fights for the rights of physically and mentally challenged women.