Patna, Dec 14 (IANS): A man in Bihar's Bhagalpur district bet his wife and lost her while gambling. He then forced her to have sex with his gambler friends and poured acid on her when she refused to continue sexual relations, an official said.

The 30-year-old victim refused to have sexual relations with other men after two or three times and her husband then threw acid on her. Sources said that he wanted purification of his wife.

Rajesh Kumar Jha, SHO of Mozahidpur police station, said that the accused husband Sonu Harijan was arrested and an FIR was registered against him on Sunday evening.

"As the case is extremely sensitive, we have immediately registered an FIR and arrested the accused. Further investigation is underway and other accused will be arrested too if they are found to be involved in this case," Jha said.

In a statement to the police, the accused said that he lost the bet some one and a half months ago. As per the commitment, the victim was to be handed over to the winners of the bet for a month but the victim refused to go with them after two or three times.

"We are studying the statement of the victim and have arrested the accused. He has confessed that he lost his wife in a gambling bet and also forced her to have sexual relations with his gambler friends," Jha said.

As the victim had sustained burn injuries, her in- laws held her captive in a house in Mozahidpur to hide the incident. They gave her primary medical treatment.

The incident came to light on Sunday when the woman managed to escape from her in-laws house and reached her father's residence in Lodipur and narrated her ordeal. Her parents immediately took her to Lodipur police station where the police asked the victim to go to Mozahidpur police station.