Instead of taking the woman to the village, the accused took her to a different route and raped her in the tempo. (Representational Image)

The police have launched a manhunt against two men for allegedly abducting and raping a 29-year-old woman inside a moving tempo near Pune. The duo had allegedly abducted the woman on the pretext of offering her a lift to a nearby village on Tuesday night, police said.

An FIR in the case was registered at a police station in Pimpri-Chinchwad jurisdiction on Wednesday night.

As per primary information given by the police, the victim lives in a village near Pune with her husband. On Tuesday, she had an argument with her husband and left the house. She came to a local temple in a nearby town and decided to go back home at 10 pm.

When she couldn’t get a lift from passing vehicles, she went to the nearby bus stand to catch a bus to her village. Sometime before midnight, the tempo driver and his assistant stopped and offered her a lift, saying they were heading in the same direction. But instead of going to the village, they took her on a different route and raped her inside the moving tempo, said police.

The victim told the police she managed to free herself when the driver and his assistant were exchanging their seats at one point.

“… The tempo had reached a place in Pimpri-Chinchwad around 3 am. While she does not remember the exact location, she walked to a building some distance away and sought help from a security guard, who in turn informed the police control room,” said a police officer.

“We have registered an offence under Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to abduction, wrongful restraint, and gang rape. We have basic information on two suspects and we believe they have fled out of Maharashtra. We have launched a search for them,” the officer added.