A woman of Bartad village in Mahuva taluka of Surat district has lodged a complaint of rape against Narendra Patel, the son of late Devdutt Patel, the ex-BJP legislator of the taluka. The accused is a sarpanch of the village and is still at large.

The victim (29), a mother of three children, stays alone in the village.

In her complaint with the Mahuva police, she said that Narendra Patel called her on her cellphone on Saturday night and told her to come outside for signing papers as a beneficiary of the Indira Aawas Yojana.

When the complainant met Narendra, he took her to the nearby bushes where he allegedly raped her.

After she reached home, she narrated the incident to her brothers Kiran and Praful. They rushed to Narendra’s house, but found him missing.

Kiran later informed the victim’s husband, Shailesh, who works in Surat.

Shailesh rushed home on Sunday and took the victim to the Mahuva police station and lodged a complaint of rape against Narendra.

The victim was then taken to New Civil Hospital for medical examination the same day.

Sub-Inspector S N Choudhary said: “The victim was staying alone in a house in the village with her three children. Narendra wanted to make friends with her and lured her by promising a house under the Indira Aawas scheme.”