But for the intervention by Minister of State for Culture and Education Anil Deshmukh, who happened to be in the town on a private visit, the situation could have taken an ugly turn as the mob damaged tree-pots, tubelights and other articles in the police station. Some of the protestors even spoke of setting the premises on fire.

Deshmukh not only managed to pacify the crowd but also got in touch with the police higher-ups to recommend the transfer of Narkhed police station officer Meshram, seen as the main culprit behind shielding the youth who raped the woman.

He also instructed the police to register the woman's complaint and investigate the crime.

The incident occurred nearly an hour after noon on Tuesday when the woman, who was on her way to her farm, was waylaid, accosted to a lonely place and rapedby Dhanraj Tulshiram Dongre, police said.

The same evening, the woman approached the Narkhed police to lodge her complaint. However, the police did not entertain her complaint, citing one reason or the other.

When some political activists learnt of the incident, they planned a morcha to the police station this morning to demand the rapist's arrest.

According to police, the morcha was led by Sanjay Charde of the Congress and Anil Korde of the Shiv Sena, both of whom were among the 40-odd people booked later for unlawful assembly and damage to public property.

The police arrested Dongre on charges of rape and illegal confinement.

Senior police officials, including acting Superintendent of Police Suresh Sagar and Katol Sub-Divisional Police Officer Mahesh Patil rushed to the site after being informed of the incident. Additional staffers from the Jalalkheda police station and rural police headquarters were despatched to Narkhed to prevent any untoward incident.