Kokrajhar, Aug. 26: Police have arrested Rubul Ali, one of the main accused in the alleged gang rape of a 13-year-old girl inside a bus in Baksa district of Assam on Saturday.

Baksa superintendent of police Mojibur Rahman said Rubul, the handyman of the vehicle, was picked up from Kaurbaha in Baksa district last late evening.

"He was formally arrested today," he said.

Another accused, Bate Ali, the driver of the vehicle, is still at large.

A search is on to arrest him, the police said.

The two accused allegedly raped the teenager after luring her with the promise to drop her home in Sonitpur district after she boarded the bus from Gachbari in Baksa.

The girl, who worked as a domestic help at Gachbari in Baksa, took the bus (registration number AS-01 EC-4207), on Saturday morning to her village in Sonitpur district.

On reaching Adabari (where she was to change buses), the driver and his handyman told her that she need not alight, as they would drop her at the village.

The bus returned to Goreswar in Baksa in the evening, it was taken to Uporkhuti, where the driver and his assistant allegedly raped her repeatedly inside the bus the entire night.

The next morning, the girl escaped and informed the villagers of nearby Atrighat.

The villagers, with the help of the local unit of the All Adivasi Student's Association of Assam (AASAA), lodged an FIR at Suwagpur police station.

Mushalpur, the district headquarters of Baksa, is around 128km from Guwahati. The village is 60km from Mushalpur.

The medical examination of the victim was conducted at Nalbari civil hospital yesterday and the report is expected in the next few days.

The incident has drawn widespread protests in the area, demanding the immediate arrest and punishment of the culprits.

Various students' unions and women's organisations yesterday carried out a demonstration at Goreswar seeking justice and the immediate arrest and punishment of the two culprits.

The AASAA has demanded stern action against them. "We demand exemplary punishment to the culprits," said Pradip Nag, AASAA acting president.