Haroa (North 24-Pgns), Sept. 10: A constable called a 25-year-old housewife to the barracks inside the police station here from a roadside mazhaar (shrine), where she had gone to offer prayers early this morning, and raped her.

Constable Soumitra Chowdhury was returning to the barracks after routine patrol around 2.30 am when he spotted the housewife. He told her that the officer-in-charge wanted to see her at the police station.

The frightened housewife went to the police station, about 75 km from Calcutta. She went to his room at the barrack before meeting the officer as Chowdhury told her to do so. ?After closing the door, he raped the woman ignoring her feeble resistance,? superintendent of police Praveen Kumar said.

The constable threatened her with dire consequences if she dared to make it public.

?We examined the distraught woman and sent her for medical examination. The constable, now in custody, is being grilled,? Kumar said.

The government was quick to order a probe. ?We have taken serious note of the incident. The constable has been placed under suspension. Both the accused and the victim have been taken into custody,? home secretary Amit Kiran Deb said.

Sources said the suspension followed a directive from chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee?s office.

The inspector-general of police, law and order, told reporters that a rape case has been registered against Chowdhury.