Indore: City police on Tuesday arrested two persons in connection with the harassment of a city-based woman model in Vijay Nagar area on Sunday. The girl was driving her scooter when the accused tried to pull her skirt after which she lost balance and fell down. However, the accused denied trying to pull her skirt.
However, they admitted that they had an accident on the busy road involving the girl and she got injured. Interrogation of the arrested is continuing, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police Harinarayanchari Mishra told reporters on Tuesday evening. The arrested have been identified as Lucky Gurjar, 23, a resident of Pardeshipura and Bunty Choudhary, 22, a resident of Lalgali, Pardeshipura, he said. They are booked under Sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC,” the DIG told reporters.
He said the accused duo work in a Ready-Made Complex in Pardeshipura area of the city. “They didn’t have any criminal background,” the DIG said. Mishra said the police arrested the duo on the basis of the statement of the woman who had alleged harassment. “However, police are yet to find any witnesses to the purported incident,” he said, adding they are probing the case from all the angles. The officer said though the accused have admitted that their motorcycle had collided with the scooter of the woman, but they have denied trying to pull her skirt, as claimed by the woman.
“Police arrested the accused on the basis of the footage of a CCTV camera. However, police have not yet come across the footage showing that the two tried to pull the skirt of the woman,” the DIG said. He said that different teams of police officials were constituted to trace the accused. Police team managed to collect CCTV footages from more than 60 places in which some suspects were captured near the spot. CCTV footage from a petrol pump helped trace the accused.
He said the police were informed about the purported incident 24 hours after the model claimed it had taken place. In a series of tweets on Monday, the woman stated that two persons had allegedly tried to pull her skirt when she was driving her Activa scooter on a busy road on Sunday.
The series of their bike number was not clear in the CCTV footage and it was difficult to trace the right number. Police checked more than 50 vehicles with the same numbers. ASP Prashant Choubey said that the investigating team had taken the help of an expert after which the bike number identified and found registered with the name of one of the accused.
After verifying details, police team reached at the Ready-made Complex and detained the accused. During questioning the accused admitted to the accident but denied trying to pull her skirt. DIG Mishra has announced a reward of Rs 20,000 for the investigating teams who managed to nab the accused within 24 hours after lodging FIR in the case.
It was just an accident: Accused
The accused were taken to police control room auditorium where the press conference was held. They told media persons that on the day of incident, they were going on their bike when the victim had an accident with their bike after which the girl fell on the road and got injured. They said that they did not molest or eve-teased the girl. After the accident, they fled from the spot. However, a senior police official said that the girl has identified them as accused. The victim is still saying that she was molested by these accused, he said.