THANE: Hours after he allegedly sexually harassed a 22-year-old female college student in Thane city of Maharashtra, police have arrested an autorickshaw driver, who had gone absconding after committing the offence, an official said on Saturday.
A team of the Thane Nagar police station caught the 36-year-old accused from Digha in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, following the incident that had occurred on Friday morning.
"We caught the accused within 24 hours," senior inspector Jairaj Ranaware of the Thane Nagar police station said.
Three police teams had been formed for the purpose.
They checked the CCTV footage and worked on intelligence inputs, before zeroing on the accused, he said.
The woman was on her way to college when the autorickshaw driver standing on the road passed some remarks about her and when she questioned him, he held her hand and pulled her towards him.
When the accused tried to flee after this, the woman held on to his hand even as he started driving the three-wheeler.
She got dragged for about 500 meters with the vehicle and fell, following which the accused fled, the police said.
Based on the complaint lodged by the woman, a case was registered against the accused under section 354 (assault or use of criminal force to any woman to outrage her modesty), 354(A) (sexual harassment), 336 (rash or negligent act), 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) of the Indian Penal Code, they said.