Jaipur, April 8 : Seven of the eight accused, who waylaid and gang-raped a woman in Rajasthan's Kota, have been arrested, police said on Monday.

The accused are residents of the Railway Colony police station area while the 40-year-old married woman, who hails from Madhya Pradesh, also lives in the area, as per the police.

The woman, working as a labourer with a contractor, went to her employer to collect her wages at around 8 p.m. on Friday while her husband had gone home for some work.

While she was returning, a few youths stopped her, took her to a deserted place nearby, and raped her. Hearing her screams, the contractor came out to help, but the accused assaulted him too, snatched his purse, and fled.

Preliminary police investigation revealed that four of the youths were drunk. Seeing the woman alone, they called more friends to join them in the crime. Police have said that there were eight accused, but further investigations are on to ascertain if more people were involved. It is also not clear whether all the accused committed rape.

Investigating officer Niyati Sharma said that 7 accused have been arrested in this case, while a search for the eighth accused is on. Out of these seven accused, two accused are history-sheeters.

She said after the incident was reported on Friday night, police registered a case on Saturday morning and started investigations. Teams have been set up to trace the eighth accused and further investigations are on, Sharma said.

/IANS