Rape bid: Brit jumps off balcony, hotel owner held

A 25-year-old British national jumped from the second floor of a hotel in Agra on Tuesday to save herself from sexual assault by the hotel owner. HT reports

A 25-year-old British national jumped from the second floor of a hotel in Agra on Tuesday to save herself from sexual assault by the hotel owner. She managed to escape with minor injuries.

The dentist from Greenwich was the third foreigner to face sexual assault within the last 10 days. On March 13, a sadhu attempted to rape an Italian woman in Varanasi and on March 15, a Swiss national was gangraped in Madhya Pradesh.

In the latest incident, the woman had arrived in Agra on March 17 and rented a room in the hotel Agra Mahal.

According to her complaint to the police, around 3.30 am, hotel owner Sachin Chauhan began knocking at her door.

“He had been pressurising her to avail the massage facility, which he said was a free gift. The woman had repeatedly refused, but the man continued to harass her,” said Virendra Singh, station house officer (SHO) of Tourism Police Station.

The police have arrested Chauhan and charged him with attempt to rape. The hotel has been sealed and its licence cancelled.