India Arrests 3 in US Woman's Rape

Phone records, vehicle damage lead to arrest
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 6, 2013 4:52 AM CDT
3 Arrested in India After US Woman's Rape
Indian policemen keep a check on vehicles after an American woman was gang-raped Tuesday in the northern Indian resort town of Manali, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2013.   (AP Photo)

Police have arrested three young Nepalese men in the gang-rape of an American woman in Manali, India, officials say. Two of the men, known only as Arjun and Lakki, were arrested in the tourist town, while Som Bahadur Tamang was arrested some 70 miles south, the Wall Street Journal reports. The three, described as being in their early 20s, haven't yet been formally charged. "Circumstantial evidence and forensic evidence links all three men to the scene of the crime," says a police superintendent.

Authorities are testing forensic evidence from a small truck they seized. The truck has a broken windshield and torn seats which are reportedly evidence in the case; police also used mobile phone records to track down those arrested. According to police, the truck's owner said he employed Arjun, and the other two men are thought to be Arjun's friends. Rape cases in India have hurt the country's tourist trade lately, the Journal notes, with travel agencies seeing a 25% drop in the first three months of 2013 compared to the year before. Among women, the figure was 35%. (More India stories.)

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