Two men allegedly raped a 40-year-old woman for five hours in the premises of a temple in Tamil Nadu’s Nagapattinam in the wee hours of Thursday after abducting her while she was on her way to her sister’s home. The police said that the inebriated duo raped the woman until she suffered injuries and fainted at the temple premises. The police have arrested two suspects, identified as M Arun Raj (25) and K Anand (24) from Nagapattinam on Friday. 

The police said that the two accused had been harassing the woman for a while, and unable to tolerate the harassment, the woman was staying at her sister's place. The woman was employed in construction work and would travel to her sister’s home nearby after each day of work. On Wednesday, the duo followed the woman while she was on her way to her sister's home in Velipalayam. 

The police said that at 9 pm, Arun Raj and Anand stopped and abducted her. They also hit her and gagged her to stop her from raising an alarm. The duo then allegedly took her to a Ganesh temple nearby and raped her. They also beat and injured her, according to sources.

The police said that the woman was tortured repeatedly by the duo for nearly five hours even after she gave her jewels and begged them to let her go. The duo threatened to kill her if she revealed details about the incident. The woman sustained injuries and fainted, following which the duo left the place at 2 am.

She was later rescued by locals, and was admitted at Nagapattinam District General Hospital. She is responding well to the treatment. The survivor's husband passed away two years ago and she has a family of two children. 

Speaking to TNM, Velipalayam police sub-inspector Thiyagarajan said that a case had been registered under Sections 363 (Kidnapping), 506(2) (Criminal intimidation) and 376 (Rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). “We have also remanded the arrested duo. Further investigation is ongoing,” he said.

(With inputs from PTI)