Panaji, Jan 31 (IANS): In a shocking disclosure, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told the Goa legislative assembly Thursday that a school headmistress oversaw the washing and cleaning of the private parts of the seven-year-old rape victim.

Parrikar was updating the house on the progress of investigations into the rape of a minor girl in a school toilet at the port town of Vasco, a crime which had stunned the state Jan 14.

"During investigation, it was revealed that the headmistress directed the class teacher to wash the private parts of the victim to avoid infection," Parrikar told the assembly.

The chief minister also said that the management of the school, run by a central government-operated port trust, also wiped off all possible traces and fingerprint evidence from the scene of the crime.

"The school management was busy cleaning evidence, when their first job was to intimate the police," Parrikar said.

The headmistress, Sharlet Furtado, was arrested and later released on bail for negligence in the week following the crime. The girl's attacker is still untraced and on the run.