A British national, who came to Delhi to meet a man she befriended on Instagram, was raped by him at a Mahipalpur hotel in South West Delhi. However, her ordeal did not end there, and she was molested by another person in the hotel lift when she went to ask for help. The police have arrested the accused, Kailash, in a rape case and his friend, Wasim, has been charged with molesting the British tourist. The British High Commission has been informed, and the victim is receiving necessary support. According to police, the victim said she met the accused on social media. They started conversing regularly, and she decided to visit India to meet him in person.
The British national came to India a month ago and stayed in Maharashtra for some time, before travelling to Goa. On Tuesday, she came to Delhi allegedly to meet the 24-year-old Kailash who had befriended her on Instagram recently. She was allegedly first molested by a housekeeping staff in the hotel’s lift. Later, she met Kailash who allegedly raped her in a hotel room, police said.
“Separate cases have been registered in both matters. They are not related to each other,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (South West) Surendra Chaudhary said. She visited a hospital on Wednesday and police were then informed about the incident, a police officer said.
The woman first spoke to the accused on a social media platform a month and a half earlier and after that, they talked frequently, he said. According to police, Kailash, a resident of east Delhi, struggled to speak English and used some translation application to communicate with her.
When the woman came to India, she and Kailash made plans to meet each other in Delhi, the officer said. The victim travelled from Goa to Delhi and booked a room in a hotel in Mahipalpur. When Kailash came to meet her, she alleged that he raped her, the officer added.
Police teams are checking CCTV footage of the hotel to know the sequence of the events. A special team, led by an ACP and under the overall supervision of the DCP, has been formed to probe the case. Police have seized the accused’s phone and will check if he has contacted any other women on social media.
Kailash, it is learnt, works at a private firm. The woman has told police that he struggled to speak English and used Google Translate to communicate with her. The incident is reported days after an Israeli tourist, along with a homestay owner, was gang-raped in Karnataka by three men. The mishap occurred when a group of travellers was stargazing near the canal situated near the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hampi. All three suspects have been arrested.
Another traveller from Odisha was found dead in the incident after he and two others were pushed into a canal by the attackers in Karnataka.
