After going through footages of 50 cameras, scanning through 52,000 people’s phone records, escorting the 23-year-old woman for a month, the cops crack the case
The Bandra Government Railway Police yesterday arrested the man they suspected molested a 23-year-old partially blind law student in a local train on December 22 last year. The girl also identified him through his voice the same day. The arrest happened a month after the cops had spotted the accused on CCTV footage.
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The CCTV footage showed the accused at Andheri railway station
The accused was identified as Rohit Nandu (33), who lives in Dahisar and owns a small garment business.
Investigation
Initially, all the police had to go on was that he had introduced himself to the girl as ‘Amit’. Last month, cops also found his image after combing CCTV footage from 50 cameras between Churchgate and Andheri.
Accused Rohit Nandu (left) with a cop at Bandra GRP police station
They tried to track him through mobile phone records of 52,000 people who used their phones at Khar station around the time he had a phone conversation there. For a month, two constables even followed the girl to nab the accused if he approached her again. They finally found him on Saturday and followed him for two days to verify his identity before arresting him.
Nandu is the only breadwinner in his family as his father is suffering from paralysis and his mother is a housewife. He had been rejected by many women his parents had found for him and was desperate to get married.
The incident
While the parents of the girl live in Vikhroli, the second-year law student resides in a hostel in Churchgate. She also volunteers at an Andheri-based blind institute. On December 22, she boarded an Andheri bound train from Khar, where she wanted to get in the handicapped compartment but was misguided by Nandu, who took her to the luggage compartment.
He then introduced himself as ‘Amit’ and told her that he loved her and wanted to marry her. He forcefully held her hands and asked for her parents’ address so he could go and talk to them. When she screamed, Nandu got off the train at Andheri station and fled.
Identification
The identification parade was converted into voice identification for the partially blind girl. Four constables and the accused stood in line and said the same sentence given to them. She heard all of them and successfully identified the accused, which was recorded on camera.