Kolkata, Oct 3 : Tension is mounting again at Kultali in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal on Friday as the third accused in the alleged gang-rape of a senior citizen is still at large.

Talking to media persons, local people claimed that the two accused arrested in the case were chased and nabbed by them late Tuesday night.

The accused allegedly raped the 60-year-old woman when she was alone at her home on Tuesday night. After committing the crime, when the accused tried to flee, the locals caught hold of two of them and handed them over to the police.

However, the local police officers have claimed that all efforts are being made to track the third accused.

The accused reached the victim's residence to steal chicken from the poultry coup attached to the house. As the woman woke up on hearing the sounds and challenged the thieves, the three accused gang-raped her after dragging her into a room in her house.

Later, the villagers chased them and managed to nab two of the three accused.

The villagers, after beating up the two nabbed accused, handed them over to the cops the next morning. On Thursday, they were presented at a sub-divisional court in the South 24 Parganas district.

According to the statement given by the victim to the local police, she was alone at her home as her husband was in the hospital in connection with an eye surgery.

She also said that the three miscreants were carrying a country-made pistol and a sharp-edged weapon, with which they threatened her while committing the crime.

West Bengal has been in the national headlines frequently since last year due to multiple cases of ghastly rapes and murders. In many of the cases, the victims had been minors.

The most talked-about case was that of the rape and murder of a woman junior doctor of state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata within the hospital premises in August last year.

/IANS