A Karnataka court on Monday awarded death sentences to three men convicted of rape an Israeli tourist and another woman, and murdering a youth near a UNESCO World Heritage site in Koppal district last year.
The Gangavathi Civil Court sentenced the convicts – Mallesh alias Handi Malla, Sharanabasava and Chaitanya Sai – to death.
On 7 February, the court found the three accused guilty and reserved the order for 16 February.
The court pronounced the quantum of punishment on Monday.
According to the prosecution, the heinous crime took place near Sanapur on 6 March 2025.
The Israeli-origin woman was subjected to inhuman sexual assault. The incident had made international headlines and cast a shadow over the district’s tourism.
Public Prosecutor Nagalakshmi told reporters that the homestay owner had taken tourists Pankaj from Maharashtra, Bibhas from Odisha, Daniel from the US, and an Israeli woman for stargazing at Sanapur, near the Tungabhadra canal, under the Gangavathi rural police station limits, at about 10.30 PM.
They were in the area of Hampi, a popular tourist destination known for rocky hillocks and sprawling temple ruins.
Just then, the three accused reached there on a motorcycle and got into a fight over a financial dispute, she added.
With the intention to rape these womenthe convicts pushed the three men into the canal. To ensure that they do not come out, they threw stones at them. Later, they gang-raped the home-stay owner and the Israeli national, the Public Prosecutor said.
“Bibhas Kumar died due to drowning in the canal. Pankaj did not know how to swim, but Daniel saved him,” Nagalakshmi said.
She added that after raping the women, the accused decamped with their mobile phones, cash and a camera.
“It was a case of gang-rape, murder, attempt to murder, robbery and extortion. Hence, Judge Sadananda Nagappa Naik under section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita gave them capital punishment. For the gang rape, the court ordered imprisonment till their last breath,” Nagalakshmi said.
She added that the accused can go for an appeal.
Their crime fell under “the rarest of rare category”, NDTV quoted the judge as saying.
The case has highlighted chronic violence against women in the world’s most populous country, where 29,670 rapes were reported in 2023, according to the latest available official data.
India imposes the death penalty by hanging, although it is rarely carried out in practice.
The last executions in India were in March 2020, when four men convicted of the 2012 gang rape and murder of a woman on a Delhi bus were hanged, in a case that sparked huge nationwide protests.
