A 23-year-old man was arrested in connection with the robbery and brutal gang rape of a 51-year-old Danish tourist in New Delhi on Tuesday night. That makes a total of three men in custody suspected of taking part in the crime.
Police in the Indian capital conducted raids in different parts of the city yesterday, searching for five more men who are wanted in the case.
“We are continuing to investigate and are confident that we will apprehend the others soon,” New Delhi police spokesperson police Rajan Bhagat told AFP.
The two previously-arrested men hid their faces at a court appearance yesterday. The court ruled that the men be held for three days. Police say that the men have revealed the identities of the other suspects.
READ MORE: Two arrested in India for gang rape of Danish tourist
Lost
Tuesday night was the last night of the 51-year-old woman's trip to India. She had been there since the first of January. She had been visiting the National Museum in New Delhi and got lost while trying to get back to her hotel in Paharganj, an area popular with backpackers.
She wound up at a dead end near the train station, where she asked a young man for directions.
“I asked him if the path I was on would take me to Paharganj, he nodded and then followed me,” the woman told police.
The woman came upon a group of men, sitting around and drinking alcohol. The men grabbed her and told her to keep quiet while they stole her backpack, iPod, cash and other belongings.
“One of the men then started to grope me and take my clothes off,” said the woman. “When I resisted, they showed me a knife and threatened to stab me. I begged them not to hurt me.”
The men raped the woman for over three hours.
She insisted on returning home to Denmark on the flight she had planned to take at 10:45am on Wednesday. Police who escorted her to the airport described her as “traumatised" and said that she collapsed before getting on the plane.
READ MORE: Danish woman gang raped in India
Foreign Ministry helping victim
Ole Egeberg Mikkelsen, the head of the Foreign Ministry's consular section, said that the women will be given whatever help she needs.
“We take the matter very seriously,” Mikkelsen told Berlingske newspaper. “The Danish Embassy in New Delhi and the Foreign Ministry have made every effort to assist the woman."
The woman returned to Denmark on Wednesday, and although Mikkelsen would not comment specifically on her mental or physical condition, he said that she is receiving “the professional help, support and care that she needs”.
Mikkelsen said that Indian authorities are taking the case very seriously and are in close contact with Danish police. The woman had told Indian police that she would be willing to go to court to help identify her attackers.
“Although cases of Danes being raped overseas have happened before, a case like this one is rare,” Mikkelsen said. “I cannot recall anything like it in all my years of service.”
