Even though there was a country-wide protest against the gang-rape and murder of a paramedical student in Delhi, a woman was allegedly raped by a prominent Congress leader in Assam.

Bikramsingh Brahma was arrested after the woman’s husband lodged an FIR at a police station. The incident took place at Shantipur in Chirang district of Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts (BTAD) in the wee hours of Thursday.

“In the FIR, the husband alleged that the woman was raped by Brahma. The accused confessed to his crime,” Chirang district superintendent of police Kumar Sanjeev Krishna told DNA. He added: “The accused is in our custody. Law will take its own course”.

Brahma, a Congress coordinator in BTAD and chairman of the party’s Baksa district SC cell, was caught red handed when the woman, mother of two children, raised an alarm. The locals claimed that Brahma had forced his way into the house at 2am of Thursday to commit the crime. However, the victim’s husband said the accused was a family acquaintance.

“We came to know him about three months back. He came to our house last (Wednesday) evening,” the husband told journalists.

Earlier when the news about the alleged rape spread, angry locals, mostly women, bashed up the accused. They also damaged his vehicle. The incident has jolted the ruling Congress in the state as it prepares for the upcoming panchayat polls. The Chirang district Congress said Brahma was a victim of a political conspiracy. “He is a victim of a political conspiracy. The members of the house where he went are all supporters of Bodoland People’s Front,” the district Congress claimed.