NRI, 61, molests Nepalese, held

A 61-year-old non-resident Indian (NRI) was on Thursday arrested from his flat in Hulimavu where he is said to have sexually harassed a Nepalese woman by luring her with the promise of a job at a beauty parlour.

Vinod Malhotra, a businessman from Doha, Qatar, is suspected to have told the woman that he owned several beauty parlours in Bengaluru as well as in Dubai and Doha and would get her a job in one of them. He brought the woman to his flat in Hulimavu and sexually harassed her, a senior police officer said. A person working in one of Malhotra’s beauty parlours in Goa had asked the woman to contact him and gave her his number.

The woman was looking for a job. She contacted Malhotra and he asked her to meet him.
They first met at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi and he promised her a job at one of his beauty parlours in Bengaluru, the officer said.

A couple of days ago, Malhotra and the woman came to Bengaluru and stayed in the Hulimavu flat. He tried to sexually assault her and locked her up. But the woman managed to call up her brother, who lives in Singapore. He sent an e-mail to the Bengaluru commissioner of police, narrating the incident. The commissioner instructed the Central Crime Branch (CCB) to investigate the matter and trace the woman. Accordingly, CCB sleuths raided the flat and arrested Malhotra.

Red Sanders in oil tanker
CCB sleuths seized Rs 82 lakh worth of Red Sanders by arresting two persons who were transporting the precious wood in an oil tanker near Electronics City on Thursday.

Habeebullah, 23, a native of Shivamogga, and N R Mani, 51, from Tamil Nadu, were travelling in an oil tanker when CCB sleuths intercepted the vehicle following a tip-off. They checked the vehicle and found that the suspects had kept 2,070 kg of Red Sanders in it.

The suspects thought that by transporting the precious wood in an oil tanker, they would not attract anyone’s attention.

The vehicle was coming from Hosur when it was intercepted.