KOPPAL: A 27-year-old Israeli tourist and a 29-year-old homestay operator were gang-raped near Sanapur Lake, close to the Unesco World Heritage Site of Hampi, on Thursday night.
A male tourist from Odisha, who was with them, was pushed into the Tungabhadra left bank canal by the attackers and was found dead on Saturday.
According to police, the victims were part of a group stargazing and playing music by the lake when three bike-borne men approached them around 10.30 pm.
The men initially asked for petrol and later demanded Rs 100.
When the tourists refused, the assailants turned violent, assaulting them and pushing the three male tourists—one from Odisha, another from the US, and the third from Maharashtra—into the canal.
The two women were then raped, as per the FIR.
Koppal SP Ram L Arasiddi confirmed that a case has been registered under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including gang rape and attempted murder.
Six police teams have been deployed to track down the culprits. While the two injured tourists are receiving treatment at a government hospital, search teams recovered the Odisha man’s body from the canal on Saturday, nearly 24 hours after he went missing.
It has been sent for postmortem at the government sub-divisional hospital.
