KOLKATA // Five men have been arrested over the alleged gang-rape and extortion of a Japanese tourist held as a sex slave for nearly a month in a basement near a famous Buddhist shrine in India, officials said on Sunday.
The 22-year-old’s ordeal began in Kolkata, capital of West Bengal state, where she was befriended by three local men shortly after arriving on November 20, one of the city’s top police officers said.
The men, one of whom spoke Japanese, first managed to persuade her to withdraw around $1,200 (Dh4,408) in cash before travelling with her to the holy shrine of Bodh Gaya in the neighbouring state of Bihar.
There she was then handed over to two brothers who allegedly locked her in a secluded underground room and repeatedly raped her for nearly a month.
The case is the latest in a string of high-profile sex attacks that have highlighted the frightening levels of violence against women in the world’s second most populous country.
The two brothers, who were working as tourist guides, were arrested on Friday and taken to Kolkata where they appeared in court late Saturday. A magistrate ordered that they be remanded in custody until January 9 for an identification parade.
* Agence France-Presse
