Thaindian News

Panaji, Jan 29 (IANS) A pharmaceutical company employee was Friday arrested in connection with the rape of a Russian minor girl, police here said.
Anil Raghuvanshi, an alleged accomplice of the main accused Aman Bharadwaj, was picked up from the Panaji bus stand, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ravinder Yadav told reporters.

Both Aman and Anil are employees at Intech pharmaceuticals at the Dhargal industrial estate, located a short distance from the Arambol beach, 45 km from here, where the rape occurred.

According to police, Anil had tried to distract the nine-year-old while Aman sexually assaulted her.

Yadav said police had contacted Anil on his cell phone Tuesday itself, when the complaint was filed.

On Friday, when he was fleeing to Bangalore, police spoke to him again and asked him to surrender.

“On Friday, we called him (Anil) again when he was on his way to Bangalore. But we managed to convince him to hand himself over to us,” Yadav said.

Crimes against foreigners, especially Russians, have seen Goa receive a lot of media flak in recent times.

A 25-year-old Russian woman was raped by a Goan politician in December last year.

Police have also been unable to crack the mysterious death of Russian teenager Elena Sukhonova, whose mangled body was found on the railway tracks near Thivim, 25 km from Panaji.

Nearly 40,000 Russian tourists visit Goa annually.

Chief Minister Digambar Kamat has been accused of inaction by his cabinet colleagues on the issue of safety of tourists in the state. Tourism Minister Mickky Pacheco has specifically alleged that Kamat had taken no action on the issue.

“I had moved a file two months before on this issue to the chief minister’s office. But there has been no response at all. Such incidents will ruin Goa’s reputation as a top tourism destination,” Pacheco said.