MUMBAI: Vakola Police in Mumbai on Thursday arrested a 24-year-old man for allegedly stalking and sexually harassing a real estate agent for the last four months.
The 33-year-old victim complained to the police after the matter went out of her hands.
The accused Farhan Khan made false allegations in the locality and maligned her name in Santacruz (East).
He had claimed that she has accompanied him to different lodges in the past and has spent the night with him.
Khan was arrested and released on bail on Friday based on the victim’s complaint filed on February 4.
The incident occurred on February 2 after Khan followed her to a restaurant and later followed her outside and showed his middle finger before leaving the place.
The harassment began after the victim filed a complaint with the Vakola Police in September 2020 when Rs 20,000 was withdrawn from her account through ATM.
The victim in the complaint mentioned the names of the suspects — her husband and his friend one Ijaz — who could have taken the money from her account then.
“Since then Khan has been threatening me asking to take the complaint back. Because Khan is known to Ijaz for whom he accompanied then after I mentioned his name in the money case then," the victim told the police
"Khan then threatened to harm me and even malign me in the locality,” the victim said.
Some of the locals' known to the victim told TOI, “Khan and his aides are involved in terrorising people in the locality."
"When the victim did not take the complaint back, Khan maligned the victim in the locality claiming that she has spent nights with him in many lodges. Fed up with this, the victim relocated to Malad,” they added.
On February 2, the victim along with her friend had gone to the gas agency to relocate her gas line when Khan followed her and continued to follow to a hotel and later misbehaved with her.
Khan has been booked under the Indian Penal Code sections 354 (D) (stalking) and 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).
If punished, the accused will be sent to jail for three years.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)