British tourist raped in New Delhi by Instagram 'friend'

A woman from the UK, who came to New Delhi to meet a man she befriended on Instagram, was raped by him at a hotel in Mahipalpur in southwest Delhi's Vasant Kunj area.

Her "friend" and his acquaintance have been arrested for rape and molestation, police said on Thursday.

The incident took place on Tuesday night after the victim and her friend Kailash, 25, an unemployed man, had dinner and drinks, the police said.

Kailash, a resident of Vasundhara-Mayur Vihar, has been charged with rape and his friend Wasim, a housekeeper, was booked for molestation, the police said.

The police have also intimated the British High Commission, said an official.

Kailash has studied till Class 12 and cannot speak English, police said, adding that he managed to impress the British national on social media using Google Translate.

"Kailash used to speak in Hindi on Google translate and later read out the English version to the British woman," said an official

The incident came to light when the woman went to a hospital and underwent a medical checkup on Wednesday morning, the police said, adding that the hospital staff informed the Vasant Kunj North police station about the sexual assault.

The two accused, who have now been sent to remand, were arrested on Wednesday afternoon, a police official said.

The woman, who came to India on March 7 for a vacation in Maharashtra and Goa, telephoned Kailash and asked him to join her there, police said.

Kailash expressed his inability to join her in Mumbai and invited her to Delhi. She later visited the national capital on March 11 and checked into a hotel in Mahipalpur.

After reaching the hotel, the woman called up Kailash and asked him to meet her. The accused allegedly came to the hotel along with Wasim and committed the sexual assault on Tuesday.

The police said when Kailash was trying to assault her she objected and raised an alarm after which he called in Wasim to intervene.

During the investigation, the police recovered social media chats between Kailash and the victim.

An official said the woman was not even aware of Kailash's profile.

Indo-Asian News Service