INDIAN police arrested three Nepali truckers on Thursday over the gang-rape of a US tourist who was attacked after she hitched a ride late at night, officers said.

The 30-year-old American accepted a lift in a truck on Monday night in Manali, a tourist destination in the foothills of the Himalayas, after struggling to find a taxi to return to her hotel.

 The latest assault comes as India faces intense scrutiny over its efforts to curb violence against women, following the fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi last December which sparked violent protests.

“Three men have been arrested in connection with the rape,” Vinod Dhawan, police chief of Kullu district in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh where the incident happened, told AFP.

The men, all aged in their 20s and from Nepal, were being interrogated by police and their truck has been seized, a police statement said. Two were arrested in the resort town of Manali where they were living, while the third was seized as he tried to leave the district.

The owner of the truck told police he had hired one of those arrested, a 22-yearold named Arjun, as a driver just four to five days earlier, the statement said.

The American told police the truck driver and two accomplices took her to a secluded spot where they raped her for over an hour. She gave police a description of the men and also identified the truck model.

Police said a team has gathered forensic evidence from the seized truck which has been sent for analysis.

Published on: 7 June 2013 | The Kathmandu Post