The woman and her husband were travelling by a private vehicle from Bolpui town of Mizoram to Lumding in Assam yesterday when the driver feigning problem in the vehicle asked the man to push it, they said.
As soon as the man got off, the driver sped away with the woman inside.
He took the woman to Silchar and raped her last night before dumping her in a critical condition near a car stand in the town, police said.
Later, the locals found the woman this morning and called the police. However, she died on her way to the hospital.
The victim's husband, a former Mizoram police employee, also managed to reach Silchar and reported the matter to the police.
A search was launched and the driver Zakir Hussain Majumdar was arrested this afternoon from Silchar-Sonari road, near the town with his vehicle, police said, adding he would be produced before the court tomorrow.