London: An Indian man, who fled to India in 2017 after a sexual assault on a woman in the UK, has been sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for the rape. Ajay Rana, 35, was found guilty of raping the woman in the back of his housemate's car in the town of Lowestoft in Suffolk, eastern England, after offering her a lift on December, 9, 2017. He then fled to India on December 13 claiming he was visiting his ill mother. He was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court in Suffolk after being found guilty of rape following a two-week trial and was also ordered to sign the sex offenders' register indefinitely. "The police investigation commenced following a calculated and sustained attack committed on an innocent victim, who has been left traumatised by the callous actions of this offender," said Detective Chief Superintendent Eamonn Bridger, the Senior Investigating Officer for Suffolk Police.

"This was a complicated investigation that was progressed with great haste despite the challenges presented by an offender who fled the country after the attack. The investigation team worked tirelessly over many months to ensure the individual did not escape justice and I am proud of the work they produced to reach the right outcome for the victim," Bridger said. By the time UK police identified him as a suspect in the days after the attack, having traced the vehicle he was driving during the attack, Rana had fled to India. Once he was traced to Spain, he was detained by the Spanish police in Bilbao last October on a European Arrest Warrant and was extradited to the UK in November last year after approval from the Spanish courts.