Mumbai: The police Tuesday arrested a serial molester who used to target women while riding his bicycle in Malad. The police began looking for him after a teenage girl lodged a complaint that she was molested near SNDT girls’ college in Malad.
The police tracked down the accused, name withheld, to a slum pocket in Malad only to find that he had targeted another college student and a woman in separate incidents.
The accused has been booked under Section 354 (molestation) of the Indian Penal Code in all three cases and has been remanded in police custody till August 1 for further investigation.
The first complaint was lodged after the accused first targeted a student outside SNDT college at around 8.30 am on July 24. The complainant stated that upon seeing her the bicycle-borne accused slowed down to touch her inappropriately before fleeing from the spot. The shocked girl informed her parents who approached the police.
“When the CCTV camera footage was scanned, we found the incident captured in it. Upon further scanning, we found another incident captured by the camera where he similarly targeted another woman while riding his bicycle. We tracked the cycle with the help of the footage and found him entering a slum pocket in Shankar lane,” said an officer of Malad police.
The officials said that since it was difficult to check each hutment without alerting the accused, a team of plain clothed policemen laid a trap near the slum colony.
The officials spotted him leaving on his cycle early morning and apprehended him at around 7 am.
The accused revealed the two incidents, corroborating the footage, and was booked in separate cases by the police.
The police then approached the SNDT college administration seeking clarity on whether any other student had been targeted in a similar manner.
The officials found another victim, a 19-year-old, who also revealed her ordeal to the investigators stating that she had been molested on July 22, following which the third case was filed.
