Two Arrested in Gang-Rape and Murder Case near Hampi, India; Israeli Tourist among Victims

Two men have been arrested in the suspected gang-rape of two women, one an Israeli tourist, and killing of a man close to a UN World Heritage site in India, police said on Sunday. Four individuals, three men and a woman, attacked two women, one an Israeli tourist, and a man in the late evening hours on Thursday close to the Group of Monuments at Hampi, an ancient village in India’s southern Karnataka state.

The case highlights the endemic violence against women in the world’s most populous country, where a daily average of nearly 90 rapes were reported in 2022. “The brutal rape and assault. Is a very heinous crime,” the state’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah posted on X Saturday.  “The police have already arrested two accused and are investigating further. We will do all to prevent such incidents from recurring,” he added.

The men were also ambushed by motorcycle-borne men while stargazing on the banks of a canal in Koppal when they declined to give them money, according to local media reports. The men, one from India and another from the United States, were pushed into the canal by their attackers before the two women were raped. The body of one of the two Indian men was confirmed dead after police recovered a body from the canal on Saturday.

Both the women, one an Israeli tourist and a homestay resident owner, have been hospitalized and treated. Mallesh alias Handi Malla and Chetan Sai Sillekyatar aged 22 and 21 were arrested on Saturday, reports The Times of India, with police continuing to search for the third suspect.

“Out of the three suspects, we have nabbed two and efforts are on to arrest the third suspect in the case,” Koppal police superintendent Ram L Arasiddi told NDTV news channel. The woman from the local community who had been victimized said “that besides being beaten up, the two women were sexually assaulted by the accused,” Arasiddi said.

It comes only weeks after an Indian court sentenced the rapist and murderer of a 31-year-old doctor to life imprisonment. That case spurred nationwide protests and mass hospital walkouts last year, with local and national authorities vowing strict and quick retribution in similar cases. The 2012 rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus also fueled weeks of nationwide demonstrations in India and led to a string of measures to bring the perpetrators of such crimes to court expeditiously.