Mumbai Crime: Man molests troubled teenage girl at Shivaji Park

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A 26-year-old man was arrested by Shivaji Park police station for molesting an 18-year-old girl near Shivaji Park Chowpatty. The arrested accused has been identified as Ramesh Alias Umesh Kanaujia who works at a laundry in the same area.

According to the police, the teen is a resident of Ghatkopar and works as a part-timer while also pursuing her studies. On 26 December 2018, the girl had a heated argument with her elder brother and threw her phone and stormed out in anger. Sources revealed that the reason behind the fight was household work and she was not ready to do complete the same. She also informed her brother that she was tired due to office work and studies.

While leaving home she told her brother she will return when she wants and not to follow her. While her brother tried to stop her, she was not ready to pay heed to him.

The victim halted a taxi and travelled to Shivaji Park. In an hour, she reached Shivaji Park where she visited Chowpatty. She began crying there and at around 11 PM, she began walking on a deserted street.

As the victim was clueless about the area she noticed a man on Veer Sawarkar Road and approached him. She asked the stranger if she could borrow his cell phone to make a call. She then rang up her brother, telling him she was at Shivaji Park but did not know how to return home. Her brother then asked her to stay put as he would pick her up.

The man then offered to get the teenager a cab and took her to a dark and secluded area. He then tried to take advantage of her by touching her inappropriately. The victim managed to free herself and ran away until she spotted a police van patrolling.

An officer said," The victim who was out of breath and was unable to tell us what happened as she was very scared. After calming her down, she managed to explain to our staff about the incident. We immediately started looking for the person and found a man on the run. We chased him down and nabbed him."

At the police station, the victim identified the culprit and an FIR was lodged against him under IPC sections 354 (outraging modesty of a woman) and 354A (Sexual harassment). The accused is currently in police custody.

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