A woman who allegedly conspired to get her husband murdered was raped by the same men who were hired by her lover to execute the plan in Polba village of West Bengal's Hooghly district recently.

Probing the reported case of the murder, dacoity and gang rape on March 28, the police were shocked to find that the complainant woman had herself plotted her husband's killing but her plan went horribly wrong as the killers took turn to rape her before fleeing the spot.

The 32-year-old rape victim now stands accused of plotting her 50-year-old husband Krishna Chandra Mal's murder with the help of her young lover Zico Pal.

Briefing about the alleged plot, Hooghly SP Tanmoy Roy Chowdhury said, "The wife of the victim Krishna Chandra Mal was involved with another boy. His name is Zico Pal. He is from Balagarh area and they were involved in some relations. They designed this crime."

Pal allegedly led the assailants to the woman's house to kill her husband. The men first ransacked the house and proceeded to murder Mal slitting his throat. All this while, the woman and her 14-year-old son were bound and gagged to stage a dacoity.

"There were four young men who entered the house forcibly. I did not know anything as I was unconscious, but they broke into my cupboards and took all my gold jewellery and cash," the woman said.

However, her plan went wrong as before decamping with the loot the killers gangraped the woman. When her lover tried to stop them he was held off at gunpoint. Both the woman and her lover were arrested.

"We have picked him up and we interrogated him and he confessed the crime. So we arrested him and the lady has also been arrested," the SP said.

Police said that inconsistencies in the victim's statements tipped them off about her involvement in the murder. Her reluctance to file a rape case despite medical evidence was also a red herring. Meanwhile, the hunt for the killers was still on.