Mumbai: Crime branch unit 7 police have arrested a 27-year-old salesman for inappropriately touching a woman on December 13. The accused, who was riding a motorcycle, touched the woman inappropriately when she was jogging around a lake in Mulund (E). The accused was arrested based on technical evidence and CCTV camera footage, following which he was booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for sexual harassment, said police.
On the evening of December 13, the survivor, who is an online retailer of designer clothes, was jogging near Sardar Tarasingh Lake at Navghar in Mulund (E), when an unidentified man, who was riding a motorcycle, touched her inappropriately from behind and made a suggestive facial gesture at her. When the woman ran behind him in retaliation, he sped his motorcycle towards the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) at Vikhroli. The woman then followed him with a taxi driver’s help, but the accused managed to give them a slip.
Meanwhile, the woman noted down the number of the motorcycle that the accused man was riding, which was MH-03-C-520, and approached Navghar police.
Police registered a case against the unidentified man and booked him under relevant sections of the IPC for sexual harassment. A probe was initiated and the CCTV camera footage was scrutinised to identify the accused, while the vehicle’s number was given to the Regional Transport Office (RTO) to get any leads.
Considering the gravity of crime against women, a parallel probe was initiated by the crime branch unit 7 officials, who checked all the CCTV footage and saw a motorcycle matching the description of vehicle used in crime.
“A motorcycle, MH-03-CU-5208, had passed the Anand Nagar toll minutes before the incident, and this number was given to the RTO. Soon, they traced its owner, Aman Abdul Rehman Shaikh, 27, to Kurla, where the vehicle was seized. At first Shaikh denied his involvement in the crime, but later confessed,” said an official.
Shaikh was booked under relevant sections of the IPC and arrested. He was produced in a local magistrate court and remanded in police custody for two days.
