A 28-year-old city-based woman software engineer was molested on a moving train by a co-passenger on the intervening night of September 1 and September 2.
Police have arrested the accused, identified as Avinash Kumar Yedire (30). Avinash is a bank employee and a resident of Murugeshpalaya in Bengaluru.
He was produced before a magistrate who remanded him in judicial custody.
Victim Preetha (name changed), a resident of Whitefield, had boarded the Kachiguda Express on Saturday night and was travelling from Hyderabad to Bengaluru in coach number S-11, berth no. 63.
In her complaint to the police, she stated that a stranger approached her berth around 12 midnight and touched her inappropriately.
The man returned around 4 am and molested her again. This time, she raised an alarm and informed the other passengers. The train had left Ananthpur and was almost reaching Hindupur station when the incident happened for the second time. A railway police staff was informed at the Hindupur railway station who escorted Avinash and handed him over to the city railway police around 6.45 am. By then, Preetha had lodged a written complaint with the city railway police.
She stated that Avinash, who was in S-5, was moving around the coaches and misbehaving with women on lower berths.
Avinash, who is unmarried, was travelling with his mother on the Kachiguda Express. In his statement to the police, Avinash said he suffered from insomnia and could not sleep on the train and hence, was pacing through the compartments. He said he had gone to show his tickets to the Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) and while returning to his berth, his purse and tickets fell down near the woman’s berth. When he was picking them up, he accidentally touched her and she raised an alarm, he said.Preetha informed all hotlines, including railway authorities, women’s helpline and railway police. Though the city railway police have registered a case, it will be transferred to the jurisdictional Hindupur police station where the incident is said to have happened.
“We have arrested the accused and the Hindupur railway police will investigate into the incident,” said a senior railway police official.
