A 30-year-old man, working inside Neelam Food Canteen located on the premises of the CSMT railway station, was arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) for allegedly molesting an 18-year-old woman who was travelling outstation.
According to the police, the incident happened during the early hours of Tuesday. The victim and her husband had reached CSMT railway station to board a long-distance train on the night of Monday. Their train was scheduled to leave after midnight, during the early hours of Tuesday.
Accused Impersonates As Railway Official To Carry Out Sexual Assault
The accused, identified as Murlilal Mukundlal Gupta (30) allegedly noticed the couple and approached them. “With the identity card (ID) on his neck which is issued by the railways, he introduced himself as a railway authority and told them some kind of routine checking is going on, and he wanted to check them too,” said a police official. He added, “He went to the couple, first asked the husband to rush to the Men’s Waiting room for inspection immediately and after he left, he asked the victim to come along - he took her to platform number 11.”
Gupta told the victim he wanted to check her luggage and her body (frisking) to see if she was carrying anything illegal. On the pretext of frisking, he touched her body inappropriately and when she questioned him, he ran away. The victim woman was standing lost when some patrolling police officers noticed her and even alerted her husband.
Police Apprehends The Accused In The Case
The women's police personnel took her statement and subsequently checked the CCTV camera of the railway platform. They spotted the accused and nearly 2 hours later, the police apprehended Gupta.
The victim originally hails from Jharkhand and has been in Mumbai in and out for work purposes, along with her husband, who too works as a laborer.
A case has been registered against Gupta for the charges of sexual assault and molestation under the sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He was remanded to custody by the court.
