Student, friends in molest net

(From left) Leno, Somashekar and Sudesh

TT, Bangalore, Jan. 5: A BCom student and three delivery boys have been arrested for molesting a woman in a Bangalore suburb on New Year night after stalking her for several days, police said today.

"They had stalked the victim for four to five days. That itself is enough reason for stringent action," police chief Praveen Sood said.

The suspects were identified as Ayyappa, 19, the main accused who molested the young woman, Leno alias Lenin Patrick, 20, who rode the scooter on which the two got away, and Somashekar, 24, and Sudesh, 20, who kept watch from a short distance away on a motorbike.

Sood described the horror that unfolded in Kammanahalli, a middle-class east Bangalore residential area that is home to a large number of migrants and students, as a "planned stalking by six friends". "They (four) are from Bangalore and residents of nearby areas. We have identified two more accomplices and will soon arrest them."

Ayyappa has a technical qualification from an industrial training institute, Somashekar is a high school dropout and Sudesh is Class XII pass. All are part-time delivery boys. Leno is a BCom student who works as a helper in a commercial establishment, Sood said.

He ruled out any possibility of the woman having known her attackers, saying she was new to the city and had arrived only a week ago.

While the four suspects have been booked for wrongful restraint, sexual harassment and "criminal acts done by a group", more offences could be added in the chargesheet, the police said.

No arrests have been made yet in the other incident on New Year night in central Bangalore's party hub of M.G. Road-Brigade Road where several more women were groped and molested. Kammanahalli is around 10km away.

Delhi horror

A video has surfaced of a mob attacking policemen after some cops prevented two men from assaulting a woman on New Year's eve in Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar area, home to a large number of civil service aspirants. Around 1,200 students have been quizzed so far.