Police in India have arrested three men for allegedly gang raping a Japanese research scholar and keeping her captive in a Buddhist pilgrimage centre.

Officers are looking for two more suspects after the 22-year-old woman was allegedly held as a hostage for nearly three weeks in Bodh Gaya, a town nearly 80 miles south of Patna, the capital of Bihar state, police officer Akhilesh Singh said.

She managed to escape on December 26th and reached Kolkata, where she was based, and filed a police complaint. She has been studying life in rural India for some time, Mr Singh said.

A Kolkata-based tourist guide had taken the woman to Bodh Gaya to show her the centre where Gautama Buddha is said to have obtained enlightenment. He was joined by four others in keeping her in captivity and raping her, Mr Singh said.

Two of the arrests were made in Bodh Gaya and one in Kolkata, police said.

A series of high-profile rape cases in India have triggered a strong public outrage against sexual violence in recent years, leading to tough anti-rape laws.

India has doubled prison terms for rapists to 20 years and criminalised voyeurism, stalking and the trafficking of women. The law also makes it a crime for officers to refuse to open cases when complaints are made. – (PA)