Panaji: A 30-year-old man from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu was arrested for raping a middle-aged British woman and robbing her belongings near Palolem beach.

Superintendent of Police (South Goa) Arvind Gawas said that CCTV footage near the scene of the offence and at the local railway station helped police track down the accused at Margao railway station, located 35 km from Canacona village.

The accused has been identified as Ramachandran, 30, and is from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. We arrested him as he was trying to flee from Margao railway station.

According to reports, the accused allegedly raped the British national around 4.30am when she was returning from the Canacona railway station to her guest house near Palolem beach after missing her train. Police have booked the accused for rape and robbery case.

Police said that the accused first tried to rob her and chased her into nearby fields and then raped her, before fleeing with her bags which contained Rs 20,000 in cash. The victim has been a regular visitor to Goa for the last ten years.

Goa is a popular tourist destination attracting more than seven million tourists every year, half a million of them being foreign nationals.

Over the last decade, crimes against foreigners, especially women, has been a cause of concern in Goa, especially after the sexual assault and subsequent death of a British teenager Scarlett Keeling in 2018.