Bhubaneswar, Feb. 6: A 28-year-old woman, whom her husband and his friends had allegedly gang-raped, today filed a complaint with Mahila police here after escaping from the accused.

The woman escaped last night after being sexually assaulted by her husband Saroj Kumar Pradhan, 34, a homeopathic practitioner, and his friends at an unknown location in the city. Pradhan had abducted her with the help of his friends on January 27.

The police said both Pradhan and the woman, who belonged to the same village, had applied for a registered marriage in April last year in Puri, but Pradhan did not turn up at the time of registration in May. However, knowing about their affair, villagers had forced the Pradhans to accept her as their daughter-in-law, and she began staying with them.

Later, the woman had lodged a case against her husband at Brahmagiri police station, following which Pradhan fled the village. She filed another case against him at the same police station on January 21, alleging torture. She also filed a petition before the state commission for women in Bhubaneswar on January 27.

The woman alleged that her husband and two of his friends had kidnapped her from the village on January 27 and kept her confined in a dark room in Bhubaneswar. The woman alleged that the accused had raped her by mixing psychotropic drugs in her food and also deployed two persons to keep a watch on her.

The victim also alleged that they had tonsured her head and she was subjected to physical assault. "On Wednesday,I heard them discussing a plan to sell me in Jhansi. Last night, I managed to escape from their clutches and reached Saheed Nagar police station this morning with the help of an autorickshaw driver," she said, alleging that she had been abducted from her village at gunpoint.

"We have registered a case under several sections, including gang-rape and kidnapping, and started a probe into the complaint," said inspector in charge of Mahila police station Bijayinee Malla.