Jajpur, June 5: A 32-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly raping a married woman at her residence in Ratalanga-Panchagochhia village in the district today.

The accused, Jada Malik, who is married, knew the victim and her family. The incident occurred when the victim, 28, was alone in her house. Though the incident had occurred last week, the victim filed a complaint with police on Wednesday.

The police have also registered a criminal case against a former sarpanch for suppressing the rape incident for days together and confining the husband of the victim.

“Her husband was away from home on the day of incident. The victim narrated the incident to her husband the next day and the matter was brought before the villagers,” said Parsuram Sahu, inspector in-charge of Binharpur police station quoting the FIR.

While the victim and her husband were on their way to the police station to lodge the complaint, a former sarpanch of the area Ramesh Chandra Malik dissuaded them from the move and promised to make an amicable settlement.

When nothing was done in the last nine days, the victim went to the local police station on Wednesday and lodged the complaint against the accused and the former sarpanch.