Even as Delhi prepares to welcome foreign tourists for the upcoming 2010 Commonwealth Games, two Dutch women were raped and duped of more than Rs1 lakh by two tourist guides in the national capital.
Though the police have managed to arrest one of the 23-year-old accused, Yasir Altaf, the other accused is absconding.
Police said that Eva Elizbeth De Kan, 24, and her friend Libby, 23, were on world tour and reached on January 5 this year. Police said that the women were staying in a budget hotel in Paharganj when they met Atlaf and Omar Baktoo.
Investigators said that the women were taken to Srinagar and Gulmarg by the two accused. “The duo charged them exorbitant rates and made them stay in their houseboat in Srinagar. The two accused then took their passports and started blackmailing and threatening them,” said a senior Crime branch official.
“Both Yasir and Omar raped these women for nearly two months by constantly threatening them. Later, in February this year they even took the women to Rajasthan and Khajuraho where they were raped,” added the official.
The officer said that even after repeated attempts when the women didn’t get their passports back, they registered a formal complaint with the police who started investigations. “We have arrested Yasir Altaf but his friend Omar is still absconding. We have sent teams to Kashmir in search of him and we hope to arrest him soon,” added the officer.
