5 BOOKED FOR ‘RAPING’ US WOMAN IN DELHI
Delhi Police on Saturday booked five men, including a tourist guide and a hotel attendant, for allegedly gang raping an American woman at a five-star hotel in Delhi in April. No one was, however, arrested till Saturday night.
The decision to register an FIR was taken after the police went through a fresh complaint emailed by the woman on Saturday, following which she was contacted over phone. A similar complaint was filed on her behalf by a US-based NGO and emailed to the Delhi police chief last week also.
In her complaint, the woman has accused the five men of drugging, physical assault, gang rape and threatening her at her hotel room. She has also accused them of subjecting her to unnatural sex.
“On the basis of her complaint, we have registered an FIR under sections 376D (gang rape), 323 (assault), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison etc with intent to commit an offence), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of IPC against the suspects,” said Deependra Pathak, Delhi Police spokesman.
Police have identified all the five suspects named in the complaint.
“The prime suspect is a tourist guide,” said a senior officer, adding a team has been tasked to track down the guide and nab him.
The other suspects include the hotel attendant, a cousin and friend of the tourist guide and one person who worked in the tourist bus which the American woman and her friends had hired.
The American woman is the second foreign tourist to have been sexually assaulted in Delhi in recent years. A court last year had sentenced five men to life for raping a Danish woman near the Delhi railway station in 2014.
In her complaint, the American woman has expressed her willingness to travel to Delhi and record her statement, police said. She had come to India as a tourist with her friends. They had booked the services of a tourist agency with which the accused guide worked.
The woman has said the tourist guide befriended her during their tours in Delhi and adjoining states. On the night of the incident, he entered her room with four of his friends, on the pretext of discussing their next day’s journey route plan.
The woman said that they had drinks in her room and the men spiked one of her drinks.
As she started feeling dizzy, the guide allegedly tried to force himself on her. When she protested, the five allegedly beat her up and took turns to rape her and she passed out. After she regained consciousness, the five threatened her with dire consequences if she approached the police.
The traumatised woman went back to the US shortly after the alleged incident, the complaint read.
She has approached a law firm in south Delhi to pursue the case with the police.
“We approached the US embassy to assist us in contacting her. We will record her statement before a magistrate if she agrees to come to Delhi. If she is unable to visit us, her statement can be recorded through video conferencing too,” the officer added.
On Friday, police checked the guest records of the hotel in Connaught Place and confirmed the woman’s stay for four days.
However, the hotel informed the police that they didn’t store video recordings from their CCTV cameras for more than a month.
THE WOMAN SAID THAT THEY HAD DRINKS IN HER ROOM AND THE MEN SPIKED ONE OF HER DRINKS. AS SHE STARTED FEELING DIZZY, THE GUIDE ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO FORCE HIMSELF ON HER.