Authorities are searching for two men accused of following a college student to her dorm, pushing her inside and sexually assaulting her, Minnesota police say.
Dipak Phayal, 20, and Sujan Tamang, 19, are facing charges in connection with a Nov. 1 attack at St. Cloud State University, according to criminal complaints filed Feb. 21 in Kearns County.
McClatchy News reached out to St. Cloud State University for comment on Feb. 26 but didn’t immediately receive a response.
Phayal and Tamang were in a dorm lobby when the victim arrived. She was returning to her room sometime between 2 and 3 a.m., investigators said. It was early Friday morning. The victim was intoxicated, and Tamang can be seen on camera opening the door for her to enter the building, police said.
But as the woman made her way toward her room, the men followed her, then pushed her inside and closed the door behind them, she told investigators.
Tamang held her down on her bed while Phayal raped her, according to police. At one point, Tamang was outside of her room, as if keeping watch, she said, but as she struggled against Phayal, he came back inside.
She pleaded with them to stop, and they eventually left, court documents read. However, both men had undressed during the assault, and they’re wearing each other’s clothes when surveillance cameras captured them re-entering the lobby about 10 minutes later.
The woman flagged down a public safety officer after the attack and police were contacted, documents read.
Hours later, at 10:17 a.m., the woman received a message on Instagram from a user named “Dipak Phuyal,” investigators said. The face was familiar. She believed it was the man who raped her, now asking “How are you feeling right now? Are you well?”
Police spoke with Phayal and Tamang.
Phayal said he had seen the woman “stumbling in the hallway” and he helped her get safely to her dorm, but nothing else happened. He later changed his story, telling investigators that the woman had made sexual advances toward him but he turned her down.
Tamang also denied any kind of assault had occurred, only that Phayal had mentioned some “consensual touching” with the woman, documents said.
When police asked the men why they had left the lobby and returned wearing one another’s clothes, Phayal said they’d “swapped clothing in the basement” because he wanted to see if Tamang’s sweatshirt would fit him.
The victim was examined at a hospital and showed evidence of sexual assault, documents read. Phayal and Tamang’s DNA were also present.
Their whereabouts are unknown, though both men have likely left Minnesota and “there is a substantial likelihood (they) will fail to respond to a summons,” according to officials. “The State is requesting a nationwide warrant be issued in this case.”
Phayal is charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct and a count of aiding and abetting criminal sexual conduct, records show. Tamang faces three counts of aiding and abetting criminal sexual conduct.
St. Cloud is a 65-mile drive northwest from Minneapolis.
