Three men who gang-raped and murdered members of tour group sentenced to death in India

An Indian court has handed de@th sentences to three men convicted of r@ping two women and k!lling a man near a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The men had attacked a group of five people as they were stargazing in a village in south India in March of last year, according to media reports.

The group included two Indian nationals from Maharashtra and Odisha, an American tourist, an Israeli tourist, and a Koppal local woman who was hosting the tourists.

They were in the area of Hampi, which is popular with visitors, known for rocky hillocks and sprawling temple ruins.

According to reports, the three men approached the group demanding money before r@ping the Israeli tourist and her homestay host and pushing the three men into a canal. Two of the men managed to swim to safety while the man from Odisha, identified as Bhibas Nayak, 26, tragically drowned.

A district court judge handed the three convicted assailants the de@th sentence on Monday over the murder charge, as well as prison terms for other offences, including r@pe.

The convicts were identified as Mallesh alias Handimalla, Sai, and Sharanappa, according to NDTV news network.

Their crime fell under ‘the rarest of rare category’, the network quoted the judge as saying.

The public prosecutor in charge of the case said: ‘Hence, the Judge Sadananda Nagappa Naik under section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita gave them capital punishment. For the gang r@pe, the court ordered imprisonment till their last breath.’

The sentencing must be ratified by the Karnataka state’s high court, and can still be appealed.

At the time of the incident, the local woman attacked told Indian media: ‘I was bleeding heavily. Two of the attackers joined forces and dragged me to the side of the canal. One of them strangled me and removed my clothes. One after another, they beat me and r@ped me.’

She said the Israeli woman was dragged away by one of the men before he r@ped her.

She added: ‘When we screamed and cried, the three fled on their motorcycle.’

The horrifying attack reportedly caused hundreds of terrified holidaymakers visiting the UNESCO World Heritage site in northern Karnataka to flee.