Goa Police on Thursday arrested a man for allegedly raping and robbing a British woman near Palolem beach in the southern part of the state, ANI reported. The police have identified the accused as Ramchandrappa, 30, a resident of Tamil Nadu, and registered a case against him under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Goa Inspector General of Police Jaspal Singh said the accused stole Rs 20,000 in cash, the passport and personal belongings of the 48-year-old woman. The police later recovered all the stolen items, except the cash, near the scene of the crime. Based on the description given by the woman and closed-circuit television camera footage, the police arrested the accused from Margao Railway Station, 40 km away from the beach.
The incident took place around 4 am on Thursday when the woman was returning home from the Canacona Railway Station, around 100 km from capital Panaji, PTI reported. Inspector Rajendra Prabhudesai said she had gone to catch a train from Canacona to Thivim station in North Goa district.
“The woman complained to the police that while she was walking from the Canacona railway station towards the beach, an unidentified person forcibly took her to a roadside where he raped her,” Prabhudesai said. “The accused, who saw the woman walking alone, pushed her to a paddy field on the side of the road near a telecom company office. He first hit her in the eyes, due to which her vision was blurred for a few minutes, and then raped her.”
Ramchandrappa is also accused of being involved in a Rs 32-lakh robbery in north Goa’s Morjim earlier in the week, The Times of India reported.
Prabhudesai said the woman has frequently visited Goa over the last 10 years.
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