A court in southern India on Monday sentenced three men to death after convicting them of the gang rape of an Israeli tourist and a guesthouse owner, as well as the murder of another traveler during an attack last year, local media reported.
The assault took place on the night of March 6–7, 2025, near the village of Sanapur in Karnataka state, not far from the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hampi.
The three men were tried in a district court in Koppal, Karnataka. They were convicted of rape, murder and causing grievous harm after attacking a group of tourists who had gone stargazing near a canal by Sanapur Lake.
According to court findings and testimony, the assailants approached the group — three male tourists, a 29-year-old guesthouse owner and a 27-year-old tourist from Israel — while they were sitting by the Tungabhadra canal playing guitar. The men initially demanded money and, when the group refused to hand over more than a small sum, threatened them with stones.
The attackers then pushed the three male tourists into the canal. Two managed to swim to safety despite the current. The third, identified in Indian media as Bibash, was swept away and later found dead.
After throwing the men into the water, two of the attackers raped the two women, while the third assaulted them and hurled stones, according to the complaint filed with police.
One of the surviving men, identified as American tourist Daniel Pitas, told authorities he was able to grasp the hand of another traveler, Pankaj Amrit Rao Patil, and swim with him to the bank. When they returned to the scene, they found the two women “devastated, crying, with terror on their faces,” according to his account cited in local coverage.
The guesthouse owner testified that the attackers arrived on a motorcycle around 10:30 p.m. and first asked for fuel before demanding 100 rupees. After one of the men in the group gave them 20 rupees, the suspects became aggressive, threatened the group with stones and carried out the assault.
She said the attackers beat her, strangled her and raped her in turn, and that they also raped the Israeli tourist. The assailants stole her bag, two mobile phones and 9,500 rupees before fleeing on their motorcycle.
The presiding judge ruled that the crimes constituted the “rarest of rare” category under Indian law, warranting the death penalty. The sentence is subject to confirmation by the High Court of Karnataka.
The case sparked widespread outrage in India. Authorities had pledged swift action after one of the suspects briefly fled to neighboring Tamil Nadu state before being apprehended.