According to the Indian Express, the rape suspects are not among the Indian team squad.
The website cited local police sources as saying that the two accused were identified as Krishna Satyanarayan, who is associated with ITW Sports, and Rajkumar Krishnan, a Zambia-based businessman.
Read: Indian cricketer and the rape controversy: How it all started?
The report further claims that Satyanarayan works as a consultant for iTeamWorks, an affiliate company of ITW. A June 11 press release by Zimbabwe Cricket had described him as the co-founder of ITW Sports.
Satyanarayan and Krishnan were staying at Meikles Hotel, where the rape is alleged to have occurred, police said.
Charity Charamba, Senior Assistant Commissioner, Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), said the two Indians faced rape charges based a complaint by a Zimbabwean woman on Friday morning.
“Two Indian nationals, Krishna Satyanarayan, aged 33, and Rajkumar Krishnan were arrested on rape charges. The girl was based in South Africa and attending a funeral in Harare. She was staying at the same hotel as those two and alleged that she was raped by them. Police have confirmed that the woman was raped. The two accused were taken to court and remanded in custody yesterday. They will apply for bail in the High Court on Monday,” Charamba told the Indian paper.
The website New Zimbabwe had reported that an Indian cricketer was involved in the rape, prompting Indian Foreign Ministry into action.
Later reports also surfaced that Indian ambassador to Zimbabwe also tried to cover up the matter using his influence.
“Thank God, it’s sorted now. Some of us didn’t even know something like this had happened. So when we started getting calls from back home, we were shocked,” said an Indian player, on the condition of anonymity.
“Some of my friends called me and said, ‘yeh kya kar diya’. I got really angry. It’s very annoying when the media runs such stories without knowing the facts, and the impact it has on us,” said another cricketer as reported by the Indian Express.
India is touring Zimbabwe, where they whitewashed them in the ODI series. However, they lost the T20 match against them Saturday by 2 runs.
