New Delhi, Jan 15

 A 51-year-old Danish tourist was robbed and raped at knife point by eight "vagabonds" near the New Delhi railway station Tuesday, police said. Two men were arrested Wednesday and some of the stolen belongings recovered.

Police said Mohd. Raja, 22, from Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh and Mahendra alias Ganja, 25, hailing from Maharashtra were arrested from near the Shivaji Park in central Delhi Wednesday evening. 

Police recovered the woman's iPod, earplugs, spectacle case along with a mobile phone valued at Rs.1,200, bought from the looted money and Rs.1,800 in cash from the duo. Six accused are still at large.

The woman who came to India Jan 1, had gone to visit the National Museum Tuesday but lost her way back to her hotel in Paharganj, a tourist hub in the heart of Delhi. She had returned to Delhi Monday after visiting Agra in Uttar Pradesh.

When she reached Paharganj by auto and asked for the way to her hotel, at around 4 p.m., a group of men lured her to an isolated spot where they robbed her of her iPod and cash and then raped her at knife point, police said. 

In her police complaint, the woman said the men had slapped and hit her. 

She was held captive for more than three hours and managed to reach her hotel around 7 p.m.

A police officer told IANS the woman was "highly traumatised" when she reached the police station.

"She had bruises on her face and neck. The manager of her hotel called the police around 9.30 p.m.

"From her description, the accused were all vagabonds," police said. 

The woman took the police to an area near the Divisional Railway Officers' Club close to the New Delhi Railway Station which she described as the place where the incident took place. But some doubts remain as to the exact spot of the crime.

Around 30 men were detained for questioning, the police said.

Police said the woman refused to undergo a medical examination. She opted to undergo the medical examination in her country, Denmark, and took a flight back home.

On the basis of her statement, a case of rape and robbery was registered at the Paharganj police station.

When the IANS correspondent went to the alleged spot of the incident, a large open garden area, an employee of the Divisional Railway Officers' Club said that a tent was being removed at the time of the rape, reported by the woman.

"The Lohri festival was being celebrated last night (Tuesday). Labourers were working inside the club premises and the garden. It is difficult to believe that a group of people took the woman into the garden and raped her," the employee said.

He said the woman was probably confused about the spot.

The Danish embassy, when contacted, said their foreign affairs ministry is aware of the incident but declined to give further details. "We can't share her personal details," an official said Wednesday.

Police said the woman had agreed to return to India to depose if required.

This is the second such incident reported to the Delhi Police within a fortnight.

A 33-year-old Polish woman was allegedly raped by a cab driver and abandoned near the Nizamuddin railway station Jan 3. The woman was reportedly offered a lift by the driver when she was on her way to Delhi with her two year-old-daughter from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, police said.

The driver reportedly "sprayed something" on her face that made her lose consciousness. The woman realised she was assaulted sexually after finding herself on a bench outside the Nizamuddin Railway Station in south Delhi, with her daughter crying beside her.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he had met Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung Wednesday and asked for a meeting with the police commissioner on why rape cases were increasing in Delhi.

"We will hold a meeting with the Delhi police commissioner next week. He will be asked to come up with answers why the number of rapes has increased in Delhi. It needs to be analysed," Kejriwal said. 

The Delhi Police is not under the state government but with the union home ministry.

by:IANS