Rafiqul Islam, 25, of Murshidabad in West Bengal was arrested by the Kothamangalam police in Kochi on Wednesday on charge of raping a 30-year-old woman. The woman, a native of Nadia in West Bengal, lives at Nellikuzhi near Kothamangalam with her husband and works in the construction industry.
According to the complaint, three men entered the woman’s house at 11.00 a.m. on December 27 when she was alone and raped her. The police said the woman complained that the men stole some gold jewellery and cash from the house before they left. The woman identified Rafiqul, an associate of her husband, as one of the men who raped her along with two others she identified as a Malayali and a Hindi-speaker.
Police arrested Rafiqul on charge of raping the woman. Police said he had been living in Kothamangalam as a construction worker for more than five years.
He also used to arrange workers from West Bengal for employers here and knew the woman and her husband, said a police official. The police are on the lookout for the other two men.