Man who 'threw rubber lizard on techie to molest her' held

Police have arrested a 35-year-old man for molesting a techie after throwing a rubber lizard on her in the lift of her office on CMH Road in Indiranagar, east Bengaluru, recently.

On June 14, around 9.30 am, the 24-year-old woman from Bihar got into the lift to go to her office on the fourth floor. Murali, a resident of Lal Bahadur Shastri Nagar near HAL, also entered the lift. He then threw a rubber lizard on her and she raised an alarm on seeing it. He then touched her inappropriately on the pretext of helping her get rid of the lizard. She realised it was a rubber lizard and blasted him for touching her. The man fled once the lift opened.

Murali, who works in a vegetable stall, and his friends had come to CMH Road for some work that day. CCTV cameras in the area captured his movements. Policemen on patrol started searching for him on the basis of the footage.

On Saturday, Murali and a relative came to CMH Road. Murali started behaving differently after seeing the police on patrol. He left behind his relative and started running away when policemen approached him. But they chased him down, a senior officer said.

Murali initially claimed that he had spotted a honeybee on the woman’s head and wanted to hit it. But he couldn’t withstand intense questioning and confessed to the crime. Murali had actually followed the woman into the lift. He molested her as soon as the doors of the lift opened, the officer said.