Two men have been arrested for allegedly molesting a 22-year-old aspiring model in south Delhi’s New Friends Colony after she refused to accompany them to their residence in Ghaziabad, police said Saturday.

Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (southeast), identified the arrested men as Sunny Kumar Verma, 28, and Pratham Singla, 20. Both their fathers are serving in the Indian army, the DCP said. The men were arrested following a complaint filed by the woman, who lives in Gurugram, at the New Friends Colony police station.

The woman works with a multinational firm. Earlier this month, she had come across as advertisement of a modelling competition on a social media site. She had approached organisers and transferred around Rs 16,000 as participation fee.

“On March 2 evening, Sunny Verma and his three volunteers asked the woman to visit them at a Gurgaon pub to discuss work. From there, they persuaded her to accompany them to another pub in a prominent hotel in Delhi’s New Friends Colony,” said the DCP.

But when it was time to leave for their homes around 5.30 am, the next morning, Verma and Singla hired a cab and allegedly asked the woman to accompany them to their Ghaziabad flat.

“The woman refused and agreed to get into the cab only when the men promised to first drop her at her home in Gurugram,” said the DCP.

But when the trio got into the cab, the men allegedly locked the doors when she tried to get out. “When she began screaming for help, the driver stopped the vehicle and let her out. She then booked another cab,” DCP Biswal said.

Just as the woman entered her cab, Verma and Singla allegedly entered her car.

“Verma grabbed the woman’s hand, molested her, abused her and warned her of consequences if she didn’t accompany them. The woman managed to push the duo out, lock the car from inside and speed away,” said the DCP.

Once a police case was filed, investigators used the social media accounts of the suspects to track them down. “They were arrested from a night club in Connaught Place on Wednesday,” said the DCP.

“The suspects posed as modelling contacts to lure young women. They would then be duped of money with promises of making them judges or brand ambassadors of the modelling firm they claimed to run,” said the DCP.

First Published: Mar 10, 2019 00:24 IST