Food delivery man arrested for molesting 19-year-old student in Pune

Pune, Sep 20: Police have arrested a 40-year-old food delivery man for allegedly molesting a 19-year-old woman student in Maharashtra's Pune city, an official said on Tuesday.

The incident took place on September 17 in Kondhwa area after the engineering student ordered food from a restaurant through an online food aggregator app.

"After delivering the parcel to the woman at around 9 pm on Saturday, the accused- Raees Shaikh - asked for water to drink. While drinking water, he struck up a conversation with the woman and asked details about her native place and college," an official from Kondhwa police station said.

The accused told the woman he was like her uncle and asked her to tell him if she wanted anything. He also messaged her on phone, but deleted it immediately, the official said.

"The man then asked for another glass of water and when the woman gave it to him, he allegedly held her hand and molested her," the official said.

"When the woman raised an alarm, the accused tried to run away but some people from the housing society caught him and handed him over to police," he said.

The woman subsequently approached police and lodged a complaint.

The accused was arrested and booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 354 (outraging modesty of a woman) and 354-A (sexual harassment), the official said.

He was later released on bail, the police added.