3 convicted in Hampi gang rape and murder case

The First Additional District and Sessions Court at Gangavathi in Koppal district on Friday convicted all three accused in the high-profile Hampi gang rape and murder case, which attracted national and international attention after the brutal sexual attack on two women, including a foreign tourist, and the murder of a male Indian tourist near the UNESCO World Heritage Site last year.

The court found Mallesh alias Handi Malla alias Mallayya (22), Sai alias Chaitannay Sai alias Saikumar (21) and Sharanappa alias Sharanabasavaraj (27) guilty of several serious crimes including murder, gang rape, rape, attempt to murder and robbery. The sentence will be announced after the verdict hearing of the convicts on February 16, 2026.

The suspects were physically transferred to the courthouse after their procedures at the courthouse.

Acting under the relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, the court found all the three accused guilty of murdering Bibhas Kumar Nayak, a tourist from Odisha, under BNS Section 103(1) (corresponding to IPC Section 302) read with the common intention clause.

The court also found the three accused guilty of attempting to murder and injuring two male tourists, one from Maharashtra and the other from the USA, under Section 109(1) of the BNS.

All three were found guilty of robbery by causing harm to the Indian female victim. Additionally, the court convicted Mallesh and Chaitannay Sai for gang rape and rape of the Indian woman and Chaitannay Sai and Sharanappa for gang rape and rape of the Israeli woman under various sections of the BNS corresponding to the strict rape and aggravated sexual assault provisions of the IPC.

The defendants were also found guilty of robbery, which involved inflicting grievous bodily harm while raping and attempts to cause death, reflecting the extreme brutality of the crime.

Sentence postponed

While describing the case as a case involving serious crimes, the prosecutor noted that the murder, combined with multiple related crimes, including two gang rapes and attempted murder, reached the category of “one of the rarest” and called for appropriate punishment.

The crime took place on the night of March 6, 2025, when the victims and their companions were attacked near the Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal in Sanapura district near Hampi. The incident, which involved the sexual assault of an Indian and a foreign national and the murder of an Indian tourist, triggered widespread outrage and raised serious concerns about the safety of tourists in and around heritage sites.