Both men charged with raping Minnesota student in her dorm are now jailed out of state

A St. Cloud State University student was accosted in her dorm late at night by two strangers and one of the men raped her, according to charges.

Dipak Phayal, 20, was charged in Stearns County District Court last week with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, aiding and abetting first-degree criminal sexual conduct and third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the attack between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. on Nov. 1 in a residence hall in the 500 block of 1st Avenue S.

Alleged accomplice Sujan Tamang, 19, was charged with aiding and abetting first- and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

St. Cloud police said Phayal was arrested Thursday in the Bay Area of California, and Tamang surrendered Friday to law enforcement in New York City. Both await extradition back to Minnesota.

University spokesman Zach Dwyer said the men were enrolled at St. Cloud State from late August to mid-December and did not return to the school.

According to the charges:

The student told police that while walking toward her room, two men she didn’t know pushed her into her room, closed the door and got undressed.

One man restrained her while the other kissed and groped her as the woman pleaded for them to stop.

The man who was restraining her got dressed and left the room, while his accomplice raped her. She said she believed the man who left was standing guard before they both left for good.

Late that morning, the woman continued, she received an Instagram message from user Phayal asking how she was feeling. She said the photo on the account resembled one of her attackers.

Police reviewed dorm lobby surveillance video that showed men matching her descriptions of the attackers. A campus public safety officer watched the video and identified the men by name.

In an initial statement to law enforcement, Phayal recalled seeing the woman stumbling in the hallway and at first denied having sexual contact with her. He then said she came on to him, but he declined.

Tamang watched the surveillance video and said he saw the woman was intoxicated and that he had opened the door for her to the building.

Tamang said Phayal told him he engaged in “consensual touching” with the student.

The woman was examined at a hospital, where medical personnel found injuries and Phayal’s DNA that pointed to a sexual assault. She also had fresh bruising and Tamang’s DNA on her shoulder that indicated she was restrained.