Cooch Behar police arrested a Trinamul Congress leader based in Dinhata subdivision on Monday night for allegedly raping a homemaker and taking ₹5 lakh from her while promising her a schoolteacher's job.

The accused is the president of a panchayat-level committee of the TMC.

On Monday night, the woman filed a complaint with the Dinhata police, accusing him of raping her, taking money from her and attacking her and intimidating her family. The police immediately acted on the complaint and took the accused into custody.

In her complaint, the woman stated the accused was known to her father.

“Around two years back, he came home and said that he had connections with TMC leaders and ministers, and if we paid some money, he could give me the job of a primary schoolteacher. We believed him and paid him ₹5 lakh,” she said.

According to her, even after paying the money, he didn’t arrange any job for her. “He started avoiding me as I insisted he either return the money or provide me a job in any state government department,” she said.

On March 14, he allegedly called her over the phone, she said. “He told me to get ready for a job interview. I believed him and left for the so-called interview with him in a car. He took me to a house in an unknown location and raped me. He also clicked some photos and videos on his cellphone and asked me to keep mum,” she alleged.

She alleged that the TMC leader then insisted on her drinking liquor. When she refused, he hit her with a liquor bottle, she added.

“I suffered a head injury and started bleeding. When I raised an alert, some local residents came to my aid. They informed my parents who admitted me to the hospital in Dinhata. When I was discharged from the hospital, he turned up at my parent’s place and said if we took any legal step, we would face dire consequences,” she added.

On Monday night, however, the woman said she mustered courage and filed a complaint with the police.

The accused TMC leader denied the charge. “The issue is about a family fight. But now, they are trying to malign me by implicating me in a false case,” he said.

District TMC leaders were brief in their reaction. “We hope the police find out the truth,” said Udayan Guha, the Dinhata MLA and north Bengal development minister.