Koppal: In a major development, Karnataka Police arrested two persons Saturday in connection with the horrific incident of three persons committing gang rape on two women, a tourist from Israel, and a female local homestay owner and killing a male Indian tourist who was with them.
The incident was reported from the Gangavathi Rural police station located close to the UNESCO heritage site Hampi.
The arrested persons are identified as 22-year-old Mallesh aka Handi Malla and 21-year-old Chetan Sai Sillekyatar. Both are arrested by the Koppal Rural police. Both the arrested accused are locals and residents of Sainagar in Gangavathi taluk in Koppal district.
Another accused, their close associate has managed to escape from the police and the special teams have intensified the hunt for him.
The preliminary investigations have revealed that the accused approached the victims on the pretext of asking for money for petrol. The victims had given them Rs 20 and asked them to leave. However, the accused started an argument with them asking for Rs 100 and started assaulting them.
They attacked the tourists and locals, a group of five persons, with stones and hands. They had pushed three men into the canal and sexually assaulted two women, a female from Israel and a local homestay owner.
Two of the accused gang raped the local homestay owner, while the female Israel national was raped by one of the accused, sources stated. More details are yet to emerge regarding the exact sequence of events and the nature of sexual assault.
The victims had not known each other and had become friends after their arrival at the homestay.
Koppal SP Ram L Arasiddi stated Saturday that a woman from Israel and a home stay owner were sexually assaulted. The tourists had gone to the spot for star gazing, they had carried a guitar with them. Two tourists, one from Nasik in India and another from America, have managed to swim out of the canal after being pushed by the accused persons.
Another tourist from Odisha who had not come back from the canal has been found dead in the canal. His body was recovered from the canal at 10.30 am Saturday, he stated.
The rape victims are recovering at the hospital while the body of the tourist from Odisha was found in the Tungabhadra Left Canal near Sanapura village near Gangavathi town Saturday.
The deceased tourist has been identified as 40-year-old Beebas.
The authorities had launched a search operation for him after the incident came to light.
The other two victims, who were also pushed into the water, had managed to come back to the bank of the canal and saved their lives.
The incident had taken place Thursday night when the homestay owner had taken female tourists from Israel, and the US, a male tourist from Odisha and the deceased to the banks of Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal near Sanapura village near Gangavathi town for stargazing.
When the tourists were stargazing on the banks of the Tungabhadra canal, the accused who came to the spot on a bike, approached them on the pretext of asking for petrol and started demanding money from them.
After being refused money, they attacked the group with stones, pushed the others into the canal, and raped the women.
The 29-year-old homestay owner, one of the victims of the sexual assault, has filed a complaint with the police regarding the incident.
The accused have disappeared after committing the crime.
The police stated that medical tests have confirmed sexual assault on the victims.
Police sources state that the incident had taken place at 3 am in the morning and it has not come to the notice of the locals.
The police are also investigating whether the victims were high as they could not take on three persons even as they were five of them. Since the victims are in shock, the police are presently focusing on nabbing the rapists.
IANS