Constable Prashant Dawaskar, 30, was arrested yesterday after a woman lodged a complaint with Mapusa police that he, along with four other civilians, ransacked her flat and molested her, while trying to conduct a probe on a complaint against her husband, police said.

The woman and her six-year-old daughter were at home when the alleged offence took place, while her husband was out on his duty.

The woman mentioned in her complaint that Dawaskar entered her house on Sunday at around midnight without a woman police constable and body searched her, amounting to molestation.

Superintendent of Police (North) Vishram Borkar said the constable had been arrested and placed under suspension.

There was no formal complaint against the woman and the constable acted on his own, Borkar said.