New Delhi - Indian police have launched an investigation after a British national said she was raped by an employee of the hotel where she was staying, officials said Sunday.

The woman, 50, who arrived in the northern city of Chandigarh recently and was staying at a hotel with a companion, said she was raped by an employee when she went for a foot spa service.

"We have registered a case of rape after the woman lodged the complaint on Thursday following which her statement was recorded by the magistrate," local police officer Lakhbir Singh said, adding that the suspect had since fled the city.

Sexual violence has been a focus of public attention in India since the fatal gangrape of a student on a bus in New Delhi in December 2012.

But sexual crimes continue unabated amid concern over the lack of safety for women in the South Asian country.