Man who molested French tourist in Mumbai arrested

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A 30-year-old man was arrested here for allegedly molesting a French woman tourist earlier this month, a police official said on Monday. The incident occurred in Khar area over a fortnight ago, but police could arrest the accused - identified as Sirajuddin Sanadi - only after scanning footage of scores of CCTVs installed on roads in the western suburbs.

According to Senior Police Inspector Ramchandra Jadhav of Khar Police Station, the victim had alighted from a suburban train at Khar station late when she was accosted by a man on a bike. As he grabbed her hand, she started screaming for help. Panicking, he sped off on his bike. Shaken, she rushed to her paying guest accommodation and narrated the incident to her roommates who helped her lodge the police complaint.

After scanning footage from scores of CCTVs, the police found that the culprit had driven north towards Andheri. Sanadi was arrested and produced before a court which remanded him to police custody for a day.

Jadhav said that the victim is a tourist who arrived in Mumbai in January after visiting several other cities in the country. On the day of the incident, she had visited the famed Mahalaxmi Temple in south Mumbai and returned home late that night. He added that police are investigating whether the accused, who is a driver by profession, has been involved in other similar offences in the past.