Mumbai Police Crime Branch on Thursday arrested a 32-year-old man for allegedly molesting a six-year-old girl on a city-bound luxury bus. The police said the accused was traced and apprehended within 12 hours of the offence being registered.
The accused, Sopan Ugale (32) works as a driver at the Goregaon depot of the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport undertaking. On Wednesday night, Mr. Ugale boarded a Shirdi-Mumbai private bus at Sangamner and sat in the back seat, police said. A family of four, including a six-year-old girl, was seated in the second-last row. On Thursday morning, when the girl started feeling uneasy, the parents placed her in the window seat next to Mr. Ugale.
An officer with the Unit XII of the Crime Branch said, “When the family alighted at Malad at 6 a.m. on Thursday, the victim started crying and told her mother that Mr. Ugale had molested her. Her mother found injury marks on her private parts. The father then called up the bus attendant and found that the bus had reached Borivali.”
He requested the attendant to stop the bus at Borivali and prevent Mr. Ugale from leaving the vehicle. The family reached the spot and the girl identified Mr. Ugale as her molestor. However, Mr. Ugale jumped out of the emergency exit at the rear and fled the scene.
The family registered a complaint with the Kurar police, and the Crime Branch Unit XII was instructed to conduct parallel inquiries into the matter.
“We obtained Mr. Ugale’s full name and number from the Sangamner office of the travels agency, and traced his location to the Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar locality in Goregaon,” the officer said. A team of Unit XII personnel went to the Goregon depot, where BEST officials confirmed that Mr. Ugale was indeed posted there.
The police found Mr. Ugale hiding in a corner of the depot, and arrested him late Thursday night. He was handed over to the Kurar police for further inquiries.
Mr. Ugale has been charged with rape of a woman under 12 years of age under the Indian Penal Code, along with penetrative and aggravated sexual assault on a minor under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, an officer said.