4 arrested in molestation case

Two days after CCTV footage emerged of a girl being molested in Kammanahalli, police said they had cracked the case with the arrest of four youths.

Aiyappa alias Nitish Kumar (19), a delivery boy simultaneously attending a vocational course, and Leno alias Lenin Patrick (20), who works as a helper, were the two caught on camera early on new year’s day, police said.

Footage from a security camera in the vicinity shows the girl alighting from an auto. A scooter appears in the frame, and the man riding it takes a U-turn to approach her. He then hounds, gropes and drags her before violently flinging her to the ground.

Somashekhar alias Chinni (24), driver of a goods vehicle, and Sudhesh (20), also a delivery boy, are the others in custody. They were standing around when their friends were molesting the girl, police said.

Police teams have launched a manhunt for two others identified as James and Puppy. Investigators have also seized the scooter used in the incident.

Of the suspects, one lives on the same lane, and another in Kammanahalli. Two others are from Lingarajapuram.

Police briefing
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, City Police Commissioner Praveen Sood said his men were collecting more evidence.

“We are further investigating to ascertain whether the suspects were involved in similar crimes earlier,” he said.

The victim, hailing from the North-East, had come to Bengaluru only about a week ago. For four or five days, the six youths had stalked her. They used to frequent the lane where she lived, he said.

“We are in touch with the victim and our officials are in the process of instilling confidence in her,” Sood said.

The commissioner said a suo motu case had been taken up since the video had provided enough evidence.

“When we saw the footage, we felt there was no need to talk to the victim at all. It was a clear-cut case of molestation and groping,’’ he said.

“Aiyappa was the bike rider who molested and assaulted the woman, and Lenin Patrick was the pillion rider who also molested the girl,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (East) Hemant Nimbalkar.

Police have reconstructed the events of the night:
Aiyappa, Leno, Somashekhar, Sudhesh, James and Puppy went to Rajkumar Park for new year’s eve. They drank at a bar till midnight.

Then they rode towards Kullappa Circle where they were howling and screaming ‘Happy new year!’ to everyone on the road. This went on till about 2.30 am.

They then spotted two girls in an auto, and recognised them as the ones they had been stalking.

They trailed the auto from Kullappa Circle till the lane where Aiyappa and Leno committed the crime. The others watched from the main road.

The two girls were returning from a new year party. The victim’s friend hurried away from the auto as she was not keeping well.

Aiyappa initially approached the victim on the pretext of greeting her and then groped and molested her, police said. He later dragged her to his friend, and then shoved her to the ground. The two fled when the victim’s friend, who had reached her PG, raised an alarm.