Mumbai:A woman was allegedly molested by a co-passenger while riding in an autorickshaw two days back. The accused was arrested within 24 hours.
The incident occurred on the night of February 16 when the auto-rickshaw was waiting at a traffic signal near megastar Amitabh Bachchan's 'Pratiksha' bungalow at Juhu. Police said the accused, identified as Arvind Vaghela (47), allegedly molested the woman, who was sitting beside him inside the auto-rickshaw. The accused is a hawker living in Vileparle West. The woman lodged a complaint at Juhu Police Station in this regard at around 10 pm.
Police said an FIR was lodged under section 354 of the Indian Penal Code. After registering the complaint, police took down the detailed description of the accused from the woman. Then, the cops examined footage of 10 to 15 CCTVs in the area to identify the accused. After matching the description given by the complainant with the CCTV footage from a shop, police spotted a man having similar features. Both the complainant and the autorickshaw confirmed that the man seen in the footage was the accused.
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However, it was difficult to trace him initially. After questioning people in the area, it was learnt that the accused was a hawker in St Joseph's Church area. Acting upon this information, police immediately went to the spot and after conducting a though search with his photograph, the accused was finally nabbed. Police took him into custody and interrogated him. During the interrogation, the accused confessed to the crime and was then arrested at around 1 pm.
