India police seek more suspects in Danish woman rape case Published duration 16 January 2014

image copyright AP image caption The police say the woman was attacked at a secluded spot near Delhi's main railway station

Police in the Indian capital Delhi are hunting for more suspects wanted over the gang rape of a Danish woman.

Two men have been held in connection with the incident and some of the woman's belongings recovered from them.

The 51-year-old tourist was attacked by a group of men in the Paharganj area on Tuesday evening. Police say she was robbed and raped at knifepoint.

There has been growing alarm at India's sexual violence since the 2012 fatal gang rape of a student on a Delhi bus.

But violence and discrimination against women remain deeply entrenched in India's staunchly patriarchal society.

A Delhi police official said two homeless men were arrested late on Wednesday in connection with the incident and some of the woman's belongings, including an iPad, a mobile phone and some cash, were recovered from them.

'Vagabonds'

"We have already arrested two of the eight suspects in the case and are still carrying out raids across different locations to nab others," senior police official Alok Kumar told the AFP news agency.

He said all the accused were "young men, mostly vagabonds" and that they had assaulted the victim for almost three hours at knife-point.

More than 15 homeless men were detained for questioning after the incident.

The Danish woman told police that she approached the group of men after losing her way as she returned to her hotel near New Delhi Railway Station.

The woman flew out of India on Wednesday morning, police say.

image copyright AP image caption The Danish woman was living in a hotel in Delhi's busy backpacker district

The Danish woman is believed to have been travelling alone and had been in Delhi since Monday after visiting the Taj Mahal.

Police say she gave a detailed statement in the presence of the Danish ambassador before leaving the country.

Paharganj, a busy backpacker district frequented by foreign tourists, is located in the heart of the Indian capital, not far from Connaught Place.

Last March a Swiss tourist was gang raped and her partner attacked by a group of men in Madhya Pradesh state. Six men were jailed for life for the attack in July.

Since the December 2012 Delhi gang rape, the nation has been shocked by a string of brutal rapes of Indian women.

They include a photojournalist raped in broad daylight in central Mumbai, a 21-year-old woman raped by two apparently unrelated groups of men on Christmas Eve in Pondicherry and a 16-year-old girl who died after being gang-raped twice and then set on fire in the eastern city of Calcutta.