Kokrajhar, Oct. 20: CRPF jawans patrolling a riot-scarred district of central Assam have been accused of raping two women after their squad split itself into two groups and drove out one woman’s husband at gunpoint.

The central force said the charge appeared to be a “publicity stunt” but it has instituted a DIG-level probe and agreed to an identification parade tomorrow. The entire patrol party, said to number seven to eight jawans, has been detained for the identification parade.

Police sources said the allegations of rape have been levelled by an Assamese woman and a Bodo woman in Bhalukmari village in Udalguri, about 95km from Guwahati. The veracity of the rape charge could be established only after medical test reports are made available tomorrow, the sources said.

The sources at the Rowta police outpost, under which Bhalukmari falls, said one of the women had complained that a jawan pounced on her when she had gone to a nearby field to get her goat back home around 4pm yesterday.

“I was helpless as there was no one nearby to come to my help,” the woman told The Telegraph.

Around the same time, it has been alleged, a separate team of two forced its way into the house of another woman. One drove her husband out while the other allegedly raped her, the sources said quoting the complainant.

“There was little I could do, with one of the jawans pointing a gun at me,” the husband said.

The patrol party belongs to a CRPF battalion posted in the district after clashes broke out between a section of the people and alleged migrants from Bangladesh. Over 50 people died in the riots that escalated early this month.

News of the alleged assault on the women triggered outrage in Rowta. Villagers gheraoed the police outpost, demanding immediate arrest of the jawans.

Manik Das, the officer in charge of Rowta outpost, said investigations were under way. “We are trying to reconstruct the events. We will not give a clean chit to the personnel till investigations are complete. That is why we have detained the personnel.”

Shrikant, the CRPF inspector general, Northeast, said appropriate action would be taken if any of his personnel were found guilty.

But a CRPF spokesperson in Delhi said that “prima facie, the allegations have been found to be not true and appear to be a publicity stunt”. However, to reassure villagers, an open inquiry will be held, he added.