A Japanese tourist was allegedly raped by the owner of a handicraft shop in Kovalam in the wee hours of Saturday. The police have arrested the accused based on the woman's complaint.

Twenty-four-year-old Teja Lakshman, the accused who hails from Karnataka, has been running his handicraft shop close to the beach for several years now. He allegedly raped the 35-year-old Japanese tourist in his rented room in Kovalam.

The woman, a nurse from Kobe in Japan who was on a 12-day tour to India, was admitted to SAT Hospital with severe injuries and bleeding, according to local media reports.

According to the police, the woman had visited Kovalam before, where the accused befriended her on Friday evening following which they spent hours on the beach at night and went to Teja's room after drinking beer around 3 am on Saturday. Teja made sexual advances towards the victim when she told him that she was heading to Kanyakumari in the morning.

The victim started bleeding during the assault and managed to run away to the hotel she was staying in. The hotel staff immediately alerted the police and took her to the hospital. The police arrested the accused after receiving information from the staff.

"We arrested the man later in morning and booked him under IPC section 376 for rape," Kovalam Sub Inspector G Ajayakumar told the media.