163 CCTVs, salon shop, flight to Nepal: How Delhi police caught Metro molestation accused

On June 2, the woman, also a Gurgaon resident, was travelling from Gurgaon to Delhi on the Metro when the accused approached her on the pretext of enquiring about an address. She helped him and later got down at Jor Bagh Metro station. The accused then followed her, and while she was sitting on the platform waiting for her cab, he again approached her and asked her to verify an address.

“He showed her a file and asked her for help with the address. While she was trying to see the file, he exposed his private parts… The woman immediately ran from the spot and contacted security personnel. She later posted about the entire episode on Twitter,” said an officer.

The woman had alleged that the security personnel at the Metro station didn’t help her and one of them even “blamed” her for not “creating a scene” at the time. A case was eventually lodged under sections of sexual harassment, stalking and outraging a woman’s modesty.

DCP (Metro) Jitendra Mani said, “Electronic surveillance systems of trains and Metro stations were scanned in order to identify and trace the accused. Multiple teams were put on the ground to investigate the case. CCTVs from all exit points of Metro stations on the Yellow Line were collected.”

The teams scanned CCTVs from 163 stations and found that the accused got down at Sikanderpur. Teams were sent to conduct an enquiry and they questioned shopkeepers and auto-rickshaw drivers in the area.

“We gathered more footage from the area and found that the man went to a salon after the incident to get a haircut. We spoke to the shop owner who told us that the accused paid using Paytm. We retrieved the customer application form (CAF) and call detail records (CDR) from the phone number and Paytm account. Aggarwal was identified and his photo was with us. We then conducted raids using the photo and found his house on June 4,” said DCP Mani.

The house was locked and residents told the police that Aggarwal had left his home a day after the incident. Further enquiry revealed that he had boarded an Indigo flight to Nepal.

“From there, he tried to obtain an anticipatory bail which was rejected by the court. The man came back and was apprehended from outside Saket Court on Wednesday,” said DCP Mani.

According to police, Aggarwal lives with his elder brother who owns the house. He is unemployed and unmarried, and lives on money his family’s rental income, police said.