A court in Karnataka on Monday awarded death sentences to three men who were convicted rape an Israeli tourist and another woman, and a young man murdered last year near the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Koppal district.
The Gangavathi civil court sentenced the convicts — Mallesh alias Handi Malla, Sharanabasava and Chaitanya Sai — to death.
On February 7, the court found the three accused guilty and reserved the order for February 16.
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The court set the amount of the penalty on Monday.
According to the prosecution, the heinous crime took place near Sanapur on March 6, 2025.
A woman of Israeli origin was subjected to an inhumane sexual assault. The incident made international headlines and cast a shadow over tourism in the district.
Public prosecutor Nagalakshmi told reporters that the homestay owner took tourists Pankaj from Maharashtra, Bibhas from Odisha, Daniel from the US and an Israeli woman for stargazing at Sanapur near the Tungabhadra canal, under Gangavathi rural police station limits, at about 10.30 pm.
They were in the Hampi region, a popular tourist destination known for its rocky hills and sprawling temple ruins.
It was there that the three accused reached on a motorbike and got into an argument over a financial dispute, she added.
With intention rape these womenthe convicts pushed the three men into the canal. To prevent them from climbing out, they threw stones at them. They later gang-raped the owner of the home and an Israeli national, the prosecutor said.
“Bibhas Kumar died due to drowning in the canal. Pankaj could not swim but Daniel saved him,” said Nagalakshmi.
She added that after raping the women, the accused settled down with mobile phones, cash and a camera.
“It was a case of gang-rape, murder, attempted murder, robbery and extortion. That’s why Justice Sadananda Nagappa Naik awarded them the maximum punishment under section 103 of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita. For gang-rape, the court ordered imprisonment till their last breath,” Nagalakshmi said.
She added that the accused can appeal.
Their crime fell into the “rarest of the rare” category, the judge was quoted as saying by NDTV.
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The case 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 figures.
India imposes the death penalty by hanging, although it is rarely carried out in practice.
The most recent executions in India were in March 2020, when four men convicted of the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a woman on a bus in Delhi were hanged, in a case that sparked huge nationwide protests.