A Trinamul Congress councillor of the Kharagpur municipality in West Midnapore has been accused of gang-raping a young woman by calling her to the party office after she had sought help to tackle her abusive boyfriend.

The incident reportedly happened in July, when the woman had approached councillor Mukesh Humne for help. The woman, who was widowed five years ago and has been living at her father’s house since, reportedly developed a relationship with Arvind Rao, who had promised marriage.

“After she was jilted by him a few months ago, she approached councillor Mukesh Humne for justice,” said a source. Humne was elected to the post on a BJP ticket in 2021 but later joined Trinamul.

The woman and Rao were reportedly called to the Trinamul party office on the afternoon of July 23 ostensibly for a settlement.

Sources said several party workers were present at the office. The sources said Humne, Rao and a Trinamul worker took turns to rape her.

Shortly after the incident, the woman filed an FIR at the local police station, on the basis of which Rao was arrested.

“Humne’s men threatened to kill me if I opened my mouth. They said they would make me disappear,” the woman said, asked why she had kept silent for so long.

The matter became public when the woman wrote letters to West Midnapore police chief Dinesh Kumar, the district’s additional police chief and the sub-divisional police officer on October 21, recording the entire incident.

In the letter, the woman demanded the immediate arrest of Humne.

“She says she is unable to leave the house owing to the fear of Humne and his aides. They are repeatedly threatening to kill her. Appropriate action should be taken against them,” said a family member.

Humne, however, dismissed the allegations against him. He said: “A section of the party is conspiring against me and trying to remove me.”

SDPO Kharagpur Dipak Sarkar declined to comment, referring the matter to the additional SP (Kharagpur).

Repeated calls to additional SP (Kharagpur) Rana Mukherjee went unanswered.

Border arrest

The Border Security Force (BSF) posted along the Indo-Bangla frontier in north Bengal intercepted three persons, including a Bangladeshi, on Thursday while they were allegedly illegally trying to cross the international border.

Sources said troops posted at the Arjun border outpost in Cooch Behar district nabbed Sablu Roy, a resident of Nilphamari district of Bangladesh.