KOLKATA: The middle-aged biker who had stalked, chased and teased an 18-year-old woman on a desolate New Town road around a fortnight ago, which had brought New Town residents together in forming a resistance group, has been arrested by Bidhannagar police. The accused is currently in judicial custody.
The biker, who is reportedly unemployed and lives in the Patharghata area in New Town, has a criminal record for petty thefts. He has claimed that he was drunk on the day of the incident and admitted to have committed the crime.
“We are glad that the culprit has finally been arrested. I am happy that this incident has brought together all the residents and fight in unison for my daughter as well as the issue of women safety,” said the mother of the victim.
On August 17, the woman was riding a scooterette with his 13-year-old brother when the incident happened on the service road between New Town police station and Greenfield Heights complex around 10.15pm. She was returning home from her mother’s café when the man on bike started trailing her. As the woman tried to speed away, the man braked very close to her scooterette and tried to touch her when she skidded and fell off the two-wheeler. She screamed for help and the man fled seeing employees from a nearby petrol pump approaching.
Cops said they had come across multiple hurdles on their road to investigation. “The CCTV footage wasn’t clear. The woman couldn’t remember the bike’s registration number or the face of the tormentor. Those who had come to the woman’s rescue hadn’t seen the man’s face either. But we kept on probing and ultimately with the help of source networking we arrested the man two days ago,” said a senior officer of Bidhannagar Commissionerate.
The victim had gone for the TI parade on Thursday. However, she couldn’t identify the culprit.
