The Hindu : National : Police get a lead in molestation case

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Friday, Jan 04, 2008
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Police get a lead in molestation case

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: Mumbai police are closing in on at least one of the men caught on camera trying to molest two women here on New Year night.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) K.L. Prasad told reporters here on Thursday that a woman approached the police to give information about a man wearing a white shirt. She told them that he stayed in a western suburb. She had seen pictures of the incident.

The police have deployed plainclothesmen to arrest him. Mr. Prasad said his arrest would lead them to the others. He indicated that cash reward would be given for information about the men.

The police are also trying to contact a man in a red shirt, who tried to protect the women.

A mob pinched and groped the women as they came out of a five star hotel. About 70 men overpowered their male companions. Two newspaper photographers took pictures of the attack and called the police.

Mr. Prasad said the victims were NRIs and had come home on vacation from California in the U.S. They were taken to a police station but refused to file a complaint.

He praised traffic policeman Amrjeet Singh, who rushed to the spot when the photographers raised an alarm and rescued the couples.

Mumbai Police Commissioner D.N. Jadhav is in the eye of a storm for accusing the media of “making a mountain out of a molehill.” Mr. Prasad said it was a faux pas. “There is no human being who does not use the wrong words at the wrong time and place… he said it in a different context and it was interpreted wrongly.”

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