Durgapur, July 13: In a pathetic reminder of a Hollywood film of the 1990s, a man here let his wife be raped by a friend whose debt he could not pay off.

Harish Vinod did not care two hoots that their nine-year-old daughter was witnessing a chain of incidents way beyond her comprehension.

On the basis of the wife’s complaint, police today arrested the husband and his friend Ganesh Bhowmick.

On Saturday, Vinod, a resident of the steel city, about 170 km from Calcutta, pawned his wife to get out of a Rs 1,000 debt. His 27-year-old wife often referred to Ganesh as boro bhai (elder brother)”.

“I never thought of leaving him, even when he was out of work, because I loved him,” said the woman who tried to resist Ganesh till she was forced to consume alcohol and sleeping pills. “My husband was an alcoholic, rude, inconsiderate and unemployed, but I never thought he could sell me off. I want a divorce immediately,” she said.

The daughter, who saw what was happening from an adjoining room, raised an alarm early on Sunday morning after her father and his friend had fled. Neighbours rescued her unconscious mother.

Vinod, a former driver in a private company, and his wife, had a love marriage 10 years ago. The police said he lost his job after being caught stealing fuel from a company vehicle in 1997. Jobless since then, he had tried to force his wife into prostitution but she had resisted. A job of an aya at a local school earned her Rs 500 a month.

In the film Indecent Proposal, Robert Redford had gone to bed with Demi Moore after paying $1 million.

At Durgapur Hospital, the woman said: “I had no grudge against my husband despite his torture and alcoholism because I loved him. I had refused to be a prostitute, but he handed me to a man I treated as a brother.”

Vinod befriended Ganesh, a Durgapur Steel Plant employee, two years ago.

“We will prepare a strong case against Vinod and Ganesh so that they are punished severely,” said Burdwan superintendent of police Niraj Kumar Singh.