Panaji, Dec 21: The South Goa police arrested a 30-year-old man belonging to Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, on the charge of raping a 42-year-old British tourist and robbing her of her belongings on Thursday morning. The victim has been a regular visitor to Goa for the last several years, according to the police.
Superintendent of Police (South Goa) Arvind Gawas said that CCTV footage obtained from the site of the incident and the local railway station helped them track down the accused, Ram Chandrappa, the same evening.
The victim was proceeding from the Canacona railway station to her guest house near Palolem beach after missing a train when the accused chased her into the nearby fields and raped her around 4.30 a.m. He then fled with her bag, which contained Rs. 20,000 in cash.
In the evening, the police traced the accused from CCTV footage from the assault site and Margao railway station, around 35km from Canacona, North Goa, inspector Rajendra Prabhudesai said.
The police had earlier “rounded up some suspects from the area”, Prabhudesai said. He said the woman had been a frequent visitor to Goa for the past 10 years, and had been travelling in the state for the past three weeks.
Thursday’s attack comes 19 months after a 28-year-old female Irish tourist’s mutilated body was found in Canacona.
She had been raped and attacked with a rock and broken bottles. Vikas Bhagat, a habitual offender she had befriended, is being tried on charges of rape, murder, theft and destruction of evidence. Canacona is a tourism hub, with popular beaches like Agonda and Palolem.
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