BENGALURU: Police on Wednesday arrested a man who had entered Maharani Women’s Hostel in the city and walked around nude before stealing and wearing women’s undergarments that were left on the terrace to dry. This was captured on a CCTV camera six months ago.
According to High Grounds Police, the accused is Abu Thaleem, a native of Bihar who has been living in the city for the past 15 years. He worked as a stable boy in Race Course.
Police said a complaint was filed by the hostel authorities who also handed over the CCTV footage to the police which helped nab the accused.
Sources said Thaleem was living with 10 other men in Race Course, most of whom are from his hometown. His brother Nawaaz also lived with him. Sources said Thaleem had been entering the hostel premises for many years now but this came to the notice of the students only in September 2016.
On September 17, 2016, a few students complained to the hostel authorities about their undergarments going missing from the terrace. The authorities thought this was an isolated incident but when they went through the CCTV footage, the horror unfolded. On September 19, hostel warden Sumithra Devi filed a complaint with High Grounds police station.
Soon after this, police started patrolling the area but failed to trace anybody. However, Thaleem returned to the hostel last month. This time the hostel security guard saw him walking around in undergarments and gave him a chase. But Thaleem managed to escape by climbing a wall.
After the incident caught media attention, police suspected the involvement of employees at Race Course and detained around 50 employees for questioning. When Thaleem’s turn came, police found that his face matched with the man in the CCTV footage and arrested him. Thaleem said that he often sleepwalked.
According to Thaleem’s brother Nawaaz, Thaleem had the habit of wearing women’s undergarments ever since he was an adolescent. He continued doing it even after he was married.
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