Representational image for arrest.
Credit: iStock Image
Bengaluru: Acting swiftly, the HSR Layout police in southeastern Bengaluru have arrested a choreographer, who sexually assaulted a 21-year-old woman in the wee hours on Sunday.
The suspect was identified as Mukeshwaran, 24, a resident of SR Nagar near Adugodi. Mukeshwaran, a native of Tamil Nadu who has been in the city since 2003, also worked as a skating instructor, as per the police.
Sarah Fathima, Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast), said that five teams were formed to trace the suspect. “The suspect was arrested based on the complainant’s statement and by analysis from CCTV feeds,” Sarah said.
“The suspect was found to be intoxicated and had partied that night. He had no prior history of criminal offences. The five teams had different tasks, including the analysis of CCTV. One team was exclusively tasked with talking to the survivor and gathering information. Further investigation is on and her condition is stable.”
The incident occurred between 1 am and 1.30 am when the third-year degree student, the daughter of an Army officer, was heading back to her flat in Chandapura near Anekal after a dinner party in Koramangala.
Police said the woman had gone to a party in Koramangala in a friend’s car and when returning, she drove the vehicle that had a minor collision with two auto-rickshaws near Nexus Mall. “There was an altercation involving the friend and the auto drivers. The woman, anxious over the incident, stopped an auto-rickshaw and got into it,” a police source had said.
After a while, she got down from the auto-rickshaw and asked for a drop from the suspect, who was on a two-wheeler. Investigators said that the suspect, instead of taking her to the designated location, took a detour to a deserted area near Hosur Main Road and sexually assaulted her.
A well-placed source told DH that one of the survivor’s friends received an emergency message and a location while her phone remained unreachable. She then informed another friend who reached the spot and found the survivor in distress.
In the meantime, another friend of the survivor also reached the spot. The duo told the police that they saw an unknown person wearing only trousers and with scratch marks on his face who fled when he was confronted.