No arrests have been made even five days after the gang rape of a 71-year-old nun at a convent school here even as her plea to stay on for some more time in hospital has been accepted.

Amid mounting outrage over the incident and the culprits still roaming free, the West Bengal government had yesterday decided to hand over the case to the CBI.

Police said no arrests have been made as yet though 15 persons have been detained in connection with it.

Ranaghat sub-divisional hospital superintendent A N Mondol said the nun had been declared fit for discharge yesterday.

But she wrote to the hospital authorities last night saying that she wants to stay for "more time", which was accepted by the hospital authorities, he said. Mondol said the hospital authorities had told her that she could stay as long as she wanted and the medical board would continue to treat her.

Accordingly the medical board conducted tests on her and found her to be physically and mentally fit, he said.