GANGAVATHI: Koppal district has convicted all the three accused in the gang rape of two women, including a foreign national, and the killing of a male tourist near Hampi. The court is scheduled to pronounce the sentence on February 16, after hearing the convicts, police sources said.
The incident occurred in March last year, near the Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal in Sanapura, close to world heritage site Hampi. According to police, the three who had been convicted had approached the two women survivors, an Israeli tourist and a home stay operator, and three other male tourist friends on the night of March 6, 2025, demanding money. When the money was denied, the trio allegedly attacked by pushing three men tourists into the canal and sexually assaulted the two women—Israeli tourist and the homestay operator.
Two men among those pushed into the canal had managed to swim to safety while a tourist from Odisha had drowned in the canal. The court on Friday convicted Mallesh, Sai and Sharanappa for offences, including murder, gang rape, rape, attempt to murder, and robbery, under the relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), police said. The accused were physically produced before the court, they said.
