Karwar police in Karnataka on Thursday arrested taluka youth congress chief 32-year-old Pratap Singh from Dandeli on charge of raping a friend's wife.
Locals who have seen the widely circulated video shows Pratap Singh getting intimate with the victim, reports say. But it does not appear that he forced himself on the victim.
Pratap Singh went underground after the rape victim lodged a complaint with police.
"Singh was tracked down by a police team near Belgaum where he was hiding. He was brought to Karwar and remanded to judicial custody," said Superintendent of Police Raman Gupta.
Singh, a friend of the victim, whose husband is reportedly employed in the Middle East, promised to help him supervise the construction of his house, as there were no male members in the family who could help.
During one of the many trips to his friend's house, Singh allegedly drugged the victim and raped her. He recorded the entire act and shared the footage with his friends and allegedly asked them to burn in on a CD.
The footage was leaked and soon the entire town had access to the footage.
Though the rape occurred a few months ago, it was after the elders in the victim's family saw the footage that they asked the victim to lodge a complaint.
"We received the complaint on Monday and began looking for Singh," Gupta said, adding that the police are investigating the case to ascertain the facts.
Though the victim has maintained that she was drugged and exploited sexually, locals who saw the video footage said that the sex appeared consensual.
"She has ruined her life. Her marriage is in danger as the incident has been conveyed to her husband abroad," said a person who lives in the victim's neighbourhood.
This incident has come to light a few weeks after the sex scandal involving Food and Civil Supplies Minister Hartalu Halappa broke out.
