india

Updated: Dec 16, 2018 15:23 IST

Six people were arrested on Sunday for allegedly gang raping and brutally assaulting a 40-year-old widow in coastal Odisha’s Kendrapara district on the suspicion that she was having an illicit affair with their kin.

The woman, who worked as a cook, has accused four men of gang raping her in Marshaghai block on Friday night. She has said that the wife of her employer also accompanied the men, and asked them to teach her a lesson.

The six arrested include two brothers-in-law of her employer and their accomplices.

Kendrapara SP Niti Shekhar said the victim was staying with her daughter and son-in-law in Marshaghai area. Around midnight on Friday, the men entered her house and took the woman, her son-in-law and the house owner to a fishery, but spared the daughter.

While the son-in-law and her house owner were beaten up, the woman was taken to a different room and raped by the men, who also assaulted her private parts, the SP said, adding that rape has been confirmed by medical examination.

When the woman lost consciousness, the men dumped her and the two others on the roadside and fled. The victim lodged a complaint with the local police late on Saturday evening.

A police officer said the wife of the victim’s employer suspected her to be having illicit affair with her husband.

“We suspect she asked her brothers to commit the crime,” said a police official.