Charged with rape, Cong leader beaten by women

Bikram Singh Brahma, chairman of the Congress co-ordination committee in Bodoland Territorial Council, almost got lynched by the locals. He was saved only by the timely arrival of the police - who had come to arrest him. HT reports.

The outrage in the wake of the Delhi gangrape case has singed a Congress leader accused of rape in Assam's Chirang district.

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Bikram Singh Brahma, chairman of the Congress co-ordination committee in Bodoland Territorial Council, almost got lynched by the locals. He was saved only by the timely arrival of the police - who had come to arrest him.

Embarrassed, the Congress expelled him before the day was out. The woman's husband alleged that around 2am on Thursday, Brahma had forced his way into the woman's bedroom and had raped her. At the time, her husband was in another part of the house.

"When she raised an alarm, her husband and the villagers came and caught Brahma," said GP Singh, inspector general of police in charge of BTC.

But before the police came, the villagers -- particularly the women - gave Brahma a sound thrashing.

Police suspect Brahma was sexually abusing the woman for several months in lieu of making her a beneficiary of government schemes.

"We have taken the woman's statement and registered a case against Brahma," said Sanjit Krishna, superintendent of police, Chirang.

The Congress was embarrassed by the incident on the eve of the panchayat election.

Earlier in the day, the party's media cell chairman Haren Das said the Congress does not tolerate a person involved in heinous crimes like rape.