3 held for gangrape of American woman

All three accused in the gangrape of a 30-year-old US woman in a moving truck at Manali in Himachal Pradesh were arrested on Thursday.

The Manali Police arrested Nepal nationals Arjun, 22, Lucky, 24, and Som Bahadur, 24, in connection with the rape case, after the victim had given description of the accused and identified the truck model.

“While two of the accused were arrested from Patlikuhal near Manali, the third accused was arrested from Mandi,” informed Kullu SP Vinod Dhawan. The accused would be produced before a magistrate for remand and later produced before the victim for identification.

The victim had told the police that she was raped on Monday night by a truck driver and his two accomplices, who took her to an isolated stretch on the way to Rohtang Pass,  after offering her a lift in the truck.

A team of forensic experts had collected some vital clues from the truck, in which the US national was raped and sent them to the forensic science laboratory for further examination.

According to the victim, the accused had also taken away her iPhone, camera and some money, after raping her for an hour. Before fleeing, the accused had dumped the victim at Manali bus stand.

The incident occurred while the victim was on her way back to the place she was staying in Old Manali, after a trip to 2 km off Manali to meet her friends, who were staying in a guesthouse.