Kolkata, Nov 23 (IANS) A godman offering 'divine help' to childless women raped a housewife for months and forced her to appear in nude before his disciples but a kangaroo court drove out the victim's husband from the village for protesting.

The shocking incident at Phulbari village in Nadia district, about 70 km from here, came to light after the husband hounded out of the village gathered courage to lodge a police complaint, forcing the culprits to surrender Tuesday.

News reports said Thursday that soon after the rape, Nabakumar Karmakar, the woman's husband, threatened to go to police. Immediately, a kangaroo court of villagers ordered him out of the village. The 30-year-old went to the police instead.

Faced with a probe, godman Gopal Das Babaji and Ranjan Saha, 45, the villager who headed the kangaroo court, surrendered in a court Wednesday. They have been remanded in jail custody.

Nabakumar is still coping with angry villagers who have refused to let him enter Phulbari.

It was Nabakumar's mother who first took her 20-year-old daughter-in-law to the godman three months ago after blaming her not conceiving after marriage.

'Nabakumar has not lodged a complaint against his mother. But if her name crops up in the victim's statement, we will arrest her. A hunt is on for all those who drove him out of the village,' Nadia Superintendent of Police Ajay Nand said.

Earlier this month, a Muslim woman's rapist was condoned with a 'fine' of Rs.4,000 by a group of cops and village elders who sat on justice in a police station in Murshidabad district.

In the same district, another kangaroo court ordered a Muslim woman to marry her rapist after divorcing her husband.