Israeli Tourist, Indian Woman Gang-Raped in Horrific Incident
New Delhi (Uttam Hindu News): A heinous incident that shames humanity has come to light in Karnataka's famous tourist destination Hampi. Some unknown attackers gang-raped an Israeli female tourist and a homestay operator near Sanapur Lake on Thursday night. Along with this, they beat up three male tourists accompanying the victim women and threw them into the Tungabhadra canal, out of which one male tourist died on Saturday morning.
According to the police, this horrific incident took place between 11:00 and 11:30 pm on Thursday. The attackers made a 27-year-old Israeli female tourist and a 29-year-old local homestay operator victims of their brutality. A tourist from Odisha, who was with the victim women and other tourists at that time, was missing since the incident. Police said that the attackers forcefully pushed him into the Tungabhadra canal. The body of the missing tourist was recovered from Sanapur Lake on Saturday morning. At the same time, two other male tourists from America and Maharashtra have been seriously injured in the assault and have been admitted to the hospital.
Considering the gravity of this brutal crime, the police have formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) with immediate effect. A case was already registered in this regard at Gangavathi Rural Police Station, in which the section of rape will now be added along with the section of murder, as the body of the missing tourist has been recovered.
According to the FIR lodged by the police, at the time of the incident, four tourists and a homestay operator were spending time near Sanapur Lake. Then three unknown persons arrived there on a motorcycle and started talking to them on the pretext of asking for directions to a petrol pump. When the homestay operator said that there was no petrol pump nearby, the accused started demanding money from her.
The FIR further states that when the tourists refused to pay the money, the accused, who were speaking in Kannada and Telugu languages, started abusing and assaulting the tourists. After this, the accused forcefully pushed the three male tourists into the canal.
According to the victim's statement, while her friends were trying to get out of the canal, two of the three attackers raped her and the Israeli female tourist.
The special police team has been conducting an intensive search operation to nab the accused since the incident. The dog squad and fire department team have been engaged in searching for the missing tourist since Friday morning. After the body of the tourist was recovered on Saturday morning, the police are now making every effort to establish the identity of the accused and arrest them as soon as possible. This incident has raised serious questions about the security arrangements of a serene and popular tourist destination like Hampi.
