A French woman travelling in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu was allegedly sexually assaulted on Monday by a man who claimed to be a tour guide who took her to a secluded spot to meditate.
Indian cops said a man named Venkatesan, 29, was arrested on Tuesday near the Hindu Arunachaleswara temple in the city of Tiruvannamalai following a police investigation.
The unnamed woman, believed to be in her 40s, is a tourist from France who travelled to India to complete a spiritual pilgrimage.
Venkatesan is accused of taking the tourist to a hidden and restricted area on the Arunachala Hills under the pretext of meditation and then sexually assaulting her.
The woman had reportedly met Venkatesan while exploring different pilgrimage spots and ashrams in Tiruvannamalai, a spiritual hub that attracts thousands of pilgrims from around the world seeking enlightenment and self-discovery.
Venkatesan then allegedly led her to a secluded area in a forest, falsely presenting it as a meditation spot, where the assault reportedly took place.
The tourist managed to draw the attention of passersby and reported the alleged assault to police.
She was then admitted to a local hospital for a medical examination.
A French woman travelling in Tiruvannamalai, India, was allegedly sexually assaulted on Monday by a man who claimed to be a tour guide
Aerial view of Hindu temple Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, India. Tiruvannamalai is a spiritual hub that attracts thousands of pilgrims from around the world seeking enlightenment and self-discovery
Tiruvannamalai superintendent of police, M Sudhakar, said: ‘We acted swiftly and apprehended the suspect within hours after the survivor’s complaint’.
‘We formed special teams to identify the suspect. There were multiple witnesses who reported seeing the victim climbing the hills with a local man.
‘We narrowed down the probe to five individuals who usually work as tourist guides, including the accused. The victim identified him as Venkatesan when he was paraded before her.’
He added that Venkatesan remains in custody, and police are looking into whether he has engaged in similar crimes in the past.
The horrific attack comes just a week after a British woman who travelled to India to see a man she met online was raped by him at a hotel in Delhi before being molested by another man in the building’s lift.
The tourist, 36, was staying in the Mahipalpur area of the Indian capital this week after befriending a man, identified only as Kailash, on Instagram.
The London-based woman had been on holiday to Maharashtra and Goa when she asked the man to join her, Indian media reported.
The horrific attack comes just a week after a British woman who travelled to India to see a man she met online was raped by him at a hotel in Delhi. File image shows hotels in the Mahipalpur area of New Delhi, where the British woman was staying when she was allegedly attacked
Also this month, two women, including an Israeli tourist, were gang-raped in India. Pictured: police officer speaks on his mobile phone at the scene as they search for the male travelers who were pushed into the canal by three men accused of gang-raping two women
The suspect said he could not travel, so she went to where he lived in Delhi to meet him, checking into a hotel.
He went to see visit her there, but a heated argument then allegedly ensued when the woman realised that the man was trying to act inappropriately towards her.
The victim alleged that she was brutally attacked and raped by the accused.
She escaped the room to go to the hotel reception to get help, at which point another man, under the pretext of helping her, allegedly molested her in the hotel lift.
Both men were arrested on rape and molestation charges, according to Indian police, who have launched an investigation into the horrific events.
In a separate incident this month, an Israeli tourist and her female travel host were allegedly gang-raped while stargazing in India by a mob of attackers who also killed their male companion.
The sick attack took place when the host took her guests, an Israeli woman, two Indian men and an American man, on a stargazing excursion near the canal in Koppal town, southern Karnataka state.
The three suspects arrived on a motorbike and approached the group, demanding cash. But, when an argument broke out, they launched an attack, throwing the three men into the canal.
Police official Ram L Arasiddi said one of the tourists, an Indian man, drowned as a result and that his body was recovered. The two other men swam to safety.
The two women were then beaten and sexually assaulted before the suspects fled the scene.
A special investigation team has since arrested two of the suspects on suspicion of attempted murder, gang rape and robbery. The third remains at large.
The incident left the country reeling as Karnataka state President B.Y. Vijayendra dubbed the authorities ‘delusional and indifferent’.
Police officials search for the male travelers who were pushed into the canal by three men accused of gang-raping two women, in Koppal district of southern state of Karnataka, India, Friday, March 7, 2025
Sexual assaults on women have become more commonplace in India, where police recorded more than 31,000 cases of rape in 2022. Pictured: Women activists stage a protest in New Delhi on Tuesday condemning the gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a city bus
‘Our government is committed to providing protection to everyone, including tourists, coming to the state,’ he said, adding that measures will be put in place to prevent future attacks.
Sexual assaults on women have become more commonplace in India, where police recorded more than 31,000 cases of rape in 2022 – a 20 per cent increase from 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.
It is thought the true figure may be higher still due to the stigma surrounding sexual violence.
Instances of rape and sexual violence have been under scrutiny since the gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus in 2012.
The attack sparked mass protests and prompted legislators to create fast-track courts for rape cases, and harsher penalties.
The rape law was amended in 2013 to criminalise stalking and voyeurism, and to lower the age at which a person can be tried as an adult from 18 to 16.
In 2018, the government approved the use of the death penalty for people convicted of raping children under the age of 12.
High-profile cases involving foreign visitors have drawn international attention to the issue.
Last year, in a video that was later deleted, a Spanish tourist said his wife was raped in northern India, while an Indian-American woman said she was raped at a hotel in New Delhi. In 2022, a British tourist was raped in front of her partner in Goa.
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