Raiganj, Feb. 8: Two teenaged boys lured a mentally-challenged 16-year-old with a gutkha packet in the Kantanagar area of this town last evening and raped her in a thicket where she was found unconscious a hour later by her mother.

Santu Saha (17) and Bikash Rajbanshi (15) were arrested today on the basis of a complaint lodged by the victim?s mother last evening. Both have confessed to their crime.

The girl has been admitted to the district hospital where she was sent for medical examination.

The incident occurred when the victim and her six-year-old brother had gone out for a walk on the embankment of river Kulik that flows close to their home. As they pottered around the sal trees, the boys called out to them, offering a packet of gutkha. They then ordered her brother to leave.

The victim?s mother alleged that the two boys had been after her daughter for quite some time.

?I knew something was wrong when my son came and told me that she was with the two boys. I kept praying to God to keep her safe. After a frantic search, we found her lying unconscious among the sal trees. It was too late. The demons had not left her alone,? she cried out in anger inside the hospital, where her daughter was admitted till this evening.

Some kilometres away at the police station, the guilty confessed to their crime, claiming they did not force themselves on the minor.

Tension prevailed in the area as news of the incident spread with most shops keeping their shutters down while vice-chairman of the municipality, Milon Choudhury, blamed the police for failing to control incidents of eve-teasing and rape that had spurted since last summer.

District police chief Asoke Kumar Dutta said: ?We have arrested the duo and the police have been maintaining a vigil against eve-teasing.?