Chennai: A French tourist has claimed that she was lured by a tour guide to a sacred location on a hilltop and in Tamil Nadu and then sexually assaulted. The incident is from Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai district.
The 46-year-old woman told the police that the guide had told her that she would attain Moksha if she meditated inside one of the caves on the Deepamalai Hill. She climbed the hill along with some tour guides after which the incident occurred.
According to the police, the complainant arrived at Tiruvannamalai in January this year and put up at an ashram. This is where she met tour guide Venkatesan. Realising that the woman was out on a spiritual quest, the accused told her of the Deepamalai Hill. He insisted that she could attain Moksha there.
The woman did not know that visits to the hilltop have been banned by the government due to frequent landslides. After she reached the hilltop, she entered a cave to meditate, when Venkatesan assaulted her sexually, the tourist claimed. After the complaint was lodged at the Tiruvannamalai West police station, an investigation was launched and Venkatesan taken into custody. The woman has been admitted to a local government hospital for treatment.
Tiruvannamalai is home to 14 spiritual locations, including the famous Annamalaiyar Temple and Ramana Maharishi Ashram. It has been a destination for foreign tourists, out on a spiritual journey, for long. Some of them stay in the district for long periods of time.
