KOPPAL: The third accused in the rape and murder of tourists at Sanapur, near Hampi, was secured from Tamil Nadu. The Koppal police traced the accused, Sai Ram (23), to Tamil Nadu and picked him up with the help of TN police. A Koppal police team is bringing him back to the district.
On Thursday night, the three accused raped two women, including an Israeli tourist, and pushed three other male tourists into the flowing Tungabhadra canal. While Bibash, a 22-year-old tourist from Odisha, drowned, the other two tourists swam back to safety.
The Koppal police had formed six teams to trace the accused and swiftly apprehended two, Mallesh and Chetan Sai, while the third had gone missing after the arrest of two others.
Police sources said the state government is keenly monitoring the case and Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara will meet senior officials from Koppal and Vijayanagara districts in Bengaluru this week.
Koppal district in-charge minister Shivaraj Tangadagi said, “People should not go to some places at night. Areas like Sanapur have leopards and sloth bears which are dangerous to people. I have have told officials to fix CCTV cameras in areas that have legal resorts and are frequented by tourists. We have instructed officials to check places where local people rent out houses to tourists.”