American Woman Gangraped On Kerala Beach, 2 Arrested

The 41-year-old woman, who was sitting alone at a beach near the ashram, was gangraped on July 31.

The woman had lodged a complaint on the night of August 1

Two men were arrested on Wednesday for gangraping an American woman who was staying in India at an ashram near Kollam. The incident took place while the woman was alone at a beach near the ashram. The arrested men are currently in the custody of the police. 

According to PTI, the police said, the accused men were booked under various sections including 376D (gangrape) and 376(2)(n) (repeatedly raping the same woman) of the IPC.

Karunagappally police station officer said, "The arrest of the men is yet to be recorded. They are presently in custody."

The 41-year-old woman who was sitting alone at a beach near the ashram was gangraped on July 31.

According to the woman's complaint, the police said, the men approached the woman and gave her cigarettes. However, when she refused the cigarettes they offered her rum. Once the woman started drinking the alcohol, she became intoxicated. 

The men then took her on a bike to a vacant house nearby and gangraped her repeatedly, the police said, as per a report on PTI. 

The woman had lodged a complaint on the night of August 1. She had arrived in Kerala on July 22, they said.

Meanwhile, in December last year, Thiruvananthapuram additional district sessions court awarded life imprisonment to two men in connection with the rape and murder case of a Latvian woman. The two accused were identified as Umesh and Udhayankumar. 

On March 14, 2018, a Latvian tourist went missing in Varkala. The woman was last seen taking an auto-rickshaw to Kovalam. She did not carry her passport during the raid. Later, the police recovered her body on April 20, 2018.

The accused had allegedly drugged, raped and strangulated the victim. 

The victim had come along with her partner Andrew and sister Ilzie. The trio came to Kerala for getting ayurvedic treatment at a facility in Thiruvananthapuram.