Five Arrested in India over Tourist Gang Rape

Five men have been arrested over the alleged gang-rape and extortion of a Japanese tourist held as a sex slave for nearly a month in a basement near a famous Buddhist shrine in India, officials said on Sunday.

The 22-year-old's ordeal began in Kolkata, capital of West Bengal state, where she was befriended by three local men shortly after arriving on 20 November, one of the city's top police officers told AFP.

The men, one of whom spoke Japanese, first managed to persuade her to withdraw around $1 200 dollars in cash before travelling with her to the holy shrine of Bodh Gaya in the neighboring state of Bihar.

There she was then handed over to two brothers who allegedly locked her in a secluded underground room and repeatedly raped her for nearly a month.

The case is the latest in a string of high-profile sex attacks that have highlighted the frightening levels of violence against women in the world's second most populous country.

The two brothers, who were working as tourist guides, were arrested on Friday and taken to Kolkata where they appeared in court late Saturday. A magistrate ordered that they be remanded in custody until 9 January for an identification parade.

Kolkata joint police commissioner Pallab Kanti Ghosh said the other three men were being held on suspicion of extorting money from the victim and then handing her over to the alleged rapists.

"We have arrested three people who befriended the victim in Kolkata. They have been charged with common conspiracy and intention to kidnap and rape," the commissioner said.

"The men managed to extort 76 000 rupees ($1 200) from her and convinced her to travel to Bodh Gaya with them in their car."