10 days before Hampi rape, accused made chain snatching attempt: Police

From preliminary investigations in the alleged gang rape, the officer said, police suspect that “the accused, who are construction workers from the Gangavathi region nearby, were under the influence of illegal substances” at the time.

According to a repesentative of local homestay owners, “the incident was first reported as a robbery before the women informed police of the gang rape”.

Police have nabbed all the three accused, identifying two of them as Sai Chetan and Mallesh, both hailing from the Gangavathi region in Koppal district where the tourist hotspot is located. While Chetan and Mallesh were arrested Saturday and sent to two-day police custody, the third accused was apprehended Sunday.

“There was only one way to exit the site and the victims had run the other way. After going through CCTV footage on that route, police found that a bike had travelled in that direction at 11.17 pm that night,” the officer said about the key clue that led to the arrests.

According to police, the three accused allegedly assaulted a group of five at around 10.30 pm near Sanapura Lake on March 6, pushing three men into a canal leading to the death of one and gangraping the two women. The victims of the alleged gang rape included a homestay owner who had taken the group out for “star gazing”, police said.

Police investigate the gang rape and murder in Hampi. (PTI)

Police have identified the deceased as Odisha native Bhibas Nayak (30) and the two other men as US national Daniel (23) and Maharashtra resident Pankaj.

Gangavathi Rural Police have registered a case under BNS sections 309(6) (robbery and voluntarily causing hurt), 311 (dacoity), 64(L) (committing rape causing grievous bodily harm or maiming or disfiguring or endangering the life of a woman), 70 (1) (gang rape). “We are investigating the case,” the officer said.

The homestay owner hails from a neighbouring state and has been running the guest house for several years, according to Ravi Sanapur, who represents accommodation owners in the region.

“I received a call around 11.30 pm on March 6 from the resort where Daniel and Pankaj had rushed to after the incident. They informed me that they had been robbed while they were star-gazing near a canal close to the Sanapur lake, about 3 km from their accommodation. I immediately informed the Gangavathi rural police inspector and rushed to the spot. When we reached the spot, the women said they had been robbed, and that Daniel, Pankaj and Bhibas had been pushed into the canal. While Daniel and Pankaj had managed to swim ashore, Bhibas was missing,” Sanapur said.

“I called about 20 locals to search in the night but there was no result. It was only the next day we found his (Bhibas) body. The other four others had left with the police. On Saturday morning, we came to know that the women were gang raped,” he said.

On Saturday, police retrieved the body of Bhibas. “He had a head injury, possibly caused by a stone, leading to his death,” said the officer.

According to Mallikarjuna, an elderly local resident, “The village had not heard of such a crime after an Indian and a foreign national were murdered in the area in the 1990s.”

Homestay and guesthouse owners said they have been cautioning foreign nationals against stepping out at night. “There have been instances of leopard attacks in recent years, and sloth bears are very common here,” Sanapur said.

Anil Hanumenahalli, a local homestay owner, said, “There are some high-end resorts that attract foreign tourists in the name of star-gazing but they do it inside their property. We don’t usually entertain such requests because of the threat from leopards and sloth bears.”