MUMBAI: A 27-year-old French national was molested by a scooterist on a Bandra West road a little after midnight recently. The woman, working with the French consulate here for some time, was walking back to her place after visiting a friend at Pali Hill, just around a km away, when the scooterist started following her. He suddenly stopped next to her, molested her and sped away, police said.
French woman’s molester held within 24 hrs of plaint
While the incident happened around 12.25am on Nov 8, the consulate filed a complaint on Nov 14. Investigators reviewed over 50 CCTV recordings from the spot before identifying the suspect, Sunil Waghela (25). Based on the scooter’s registration number, Khar cops arrested him from his home, around 100m from Dharavi police station, Saturday night, less than 24 hours after the French consulate filed a complaint.As he is a scrap dealer from Dharavi, police are looking into whether he was stalking her, and what he was doing in Bandra at that late hour.“A few CCTV footage retrieved from the spot were overwritten, but we managed to retrieve footage of Waghela following the woman on a scooter. He stopped next to her and then sped away after molesting her,” said an officer from Khar police station. “It is suspected he had been stalking her for a few days.”An FIR was registered against the accused under BNS Section 74 for assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty after the embassy coordinated with police on Nov 14.DCP (Zone IX) Dikshit Gedam formed a special team led by ACP Adikrao Pol, and comprising senior inspector Sanjeev Dhumal, inspector Vaibhav Katkar, assistant inspector Bharat Satpute, and sub-inspectors Hanumant Kumbhare and Manik Ghogare that laid a trap near his Dharavi residence.“Waghela was caught late on Saturday after tracking his movement using technical assistance. When he was being taken away, his family members, relatives and people from his community created a ruckus before they were cleared by the police team,” said the officer.Waghela was produced before the Sunday holiday court in Bandra, which remanded him in police custody till Monday.
