Two men were arrested on Sunday in connection with the abduction and rape of a 19-year-old tribal woman in Koriya district of Chhattisgarh, police said.
According to police, the accused duo also allegedly tried to kill the victim by hanging her from a tree after the sexual assault by one of them, they said.
The incident took place on Saturday evening in Jhagrakhand police station area, following which the accused, identified as Vinod Urao (25) and Suraj Panika (24), were nabbed, based on a complaint lodged by the victim, a senior police official said.
"As per the preliminary investigation, Urao had been arrested in 2017, and he had spent a few months in jail after the same girl had lodged a molestation complaint against him. But his release from jail on bail, he was allegedly planning to take revenge and teach a her and her family a lesson," the official said.
On Saturday evening, Urao, along with his friend Panika, allegedly abducted the woman when she was alone at home. They took her to a nearby forest, where they bashed her up. Urao then sexually assaulted her there, he said.
"Thereafter, they undressed her and hung her from a tree using her scarf in a bid to kill her before escaping from the spot. However, the scarf got torn and she fell to the ground and therefore survived," he said.
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The woman somehow managed to reach a nearby village at night, where some locals helped her contact her family members who had launched a search for her, the official said.
The victim's family members then informed the local police, which swung into action and arrested the duo, he said.
The victim has been admitted to a local hospital, where she is undergoing treatment, the senior official said.
The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the IPC and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, he said, adding that investigation into the case is underway.