Bhubaneswar: Bibash Nayak from Odisha met with a tragic end when he along with two male co-travellers attempted to intervene when two women, including a foreign national, were allegedly raped near the Hampi heritage site in Karnataka on Thursday night.
Body of the 29-year-old, who had been missing since then, was recovered from Tungabhadra River canal on Saturday morning.
The incident took place around 11.30 pm on Thursday when three bike-borne men approached the four tourists, including two foreigners, and the homestay owner, when they were stargazing near the Tungabhadra Canal close to Sanapur Lake, roughly 25 km from Hampi. The situation took a violent turn when Bibash handed out Rs 20 as they demanded money from the group. The attackers– who spoke Kannada and Telugu – misbehaved with the group and began assaulting them.
The homestay owner, who filed the complaint, said that the attackers pushed the male tourists, Bibash, American Daniel Pitas (23) and Pankaj Patil (42) from Maharashtra’s Nasik into the canal. While they struggled to come out of the water, two of the three attackers allegedly raped the homestay owner and the 27-year-old Israeli tourist before fleeing with Rs 9,500 in cash and two mobile phones.
While Daniel and Pankaj swam to safety, Bibash tragically drowned.
Bibash was a native of Derabadi village in Kandhamal district. He was working in a hospital in New Delhi, while his parents were staying in Agra, for the last several years, according reports.
Meanwhile, police have arrested two local residents – Mallesh and Sai Chetan – in connection with the incident. An FIR under Sections 309(6) (theft of extortion), 311 (robbery with intent to cause death or serious injury), 70(1) (gang-rape), and 109 (attempt to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered in the case. They have also been charged with murdering Bibash.
