Police Arrest 3 in Gang Rape of American

Associated Press Police keeping a check on vehicles in Manali, Himachal Pradesh, on Tuesday.

NEW DELHIâ€" Three men were arrested Thursday in the gang rape of a 30-year-old American tourist in Manali, the Himachal Pradesh police said.

The men are from Nepal but have been residing in the resort town of Manali, the police said in a statement. Two of them, whose names were listed as Arjun, 22, and Lakki, 24, were arrested close to their residence Thursday morning.

The third man, Som Bahadur Tamang, 24, was caught in the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh on Thursday morning. Vinod Kumar Dhawan, superintendent of police in the Kullu district, said in a phone interview that Mr. Tamang was trying to evade arrest by traveling with a female friend under the “garb of a married couple.”

The victim, who was staying at a guesthouse in the old part of Manali, reported that she had been raped very early Tuesday morning as she was making her way back from Vashisht, which is about two miles north of Manali. She said she was offered a ride in the truck by three men, who then took her to a secluded spot and raped her.

The police said they found the vehicle, a brick-colored mini-truck whose license plate was registered in Himachal Pradesh, in which they say the rape occurred. The items stolen from the victim have not yet been recovered.

The owner of the truck, Manoj Kumar, said he had hired one of the suspects, Arjun, as a day laborer to drive the vehicle just four or five days earlier, the police said.

“The arrests have been made on the basis of circumstantial evidence, such as identification of the truck, based on the victim’s account,” said Mr. Dhawan.

He added that the victim, who is still in Manali, will have a chance to identify the suspects when they are presented before a district magistrate within the next 24 hours.