Mumbai Crime: Waiter who molested women travelling in rickshaws held

A CCTV grab of accused Abdul Khan

The Mumbai police have arrested a 22-year-old serial molester who used to harass women travelling in three-wheelers in the western suburbs. The accused, Abdul Waris Abdul Khan, works as a waiter in a well-known hotel in Andheri West. The hotel's uniform - black trousers and a white shirt - helped the police nab him on Saturday from his workplace.

The first incident
"A 14-year-old was travelling in an auto-rickshaw with her parents on the evening of October 5 when the accused suddenly came close to the three-wheeler, molested her and fled. Her parents saw he was wearing a white shirt and black trousers," said an officer attached to Amboli police station. Khan would molest the girls travelling in three-wheelers in Behrambaug area of Jogeshwari (west) where the vehicles generally slow down on the busy road.

The second incident
Khan molested another woman travelling in a three-wheeler the same day. She registered a molestation case against an unknown person at the Oshiwara police station. In her complaint, the woman said that the man was wearing a chequered shirt with its sleeves folded upto the elbow. After these two molestations, sources said, the police announced a cash prize of Rs 10,000 to arrest the accused.

A clue
"The back-to-back molestations of women traveling in auto-rickshaws in Behrambaug gave us a clear clue that the accused was a resident of a nearby area," said a senior
police officer.

A team including detection officers, surveillance officers and crime inspectors of Amboli as well as Oshiwara was formed to arrest the accused before he could target any other woman. The officers searched more than two dozen CCTV footages of the crime spot. "But we could not get a breakthrough," said an officer attached to Oshiwara police station.

Uniform led to him
Based on the CCTV grabs, the Amboli police searched more than 60 hotels/restaurants in Andheri West. "From his uniform, we initially thought the accused could either be a student or a waiter. So we started to search for him keeping his uniform in mind," said an officer.

He was arrested from the hotel he works for by Amboli police. The cops suspect that he has molested many women travelling in three-wheelers in Andheri West. Khan has been booked under Section 354 (molestation) of IPC and Section 8 of the POCSO Act.

Also Read: Caught on camera: Pervert molests school girl in broad daylight at Mumbai Central

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