Cops release suspected sex-maniac fearing riots

VADODARA, JULY 23: Police detained a youth, suspecting him to be the Mughalwada sex maniac, but released him after people from his neighbo...

VADODARA, JULY 23: Police detained a youth, suspecting him to be the Mughalwada sex maniac, but released him after people from his neighbourhood mobbed the Gajrawadi chowki where he was being questioned.

Vileyrao Vasant Garuda 25, brother of a cable-TV operator, was taken in by the police on Saturday morning. Policemen said he resembled the artist8217;s impression of the sex-maniac made from descriptions gathered from witnesses.

However, the suspect had to be released by the police within a few hours, amidst high drama as hundreds of residents of the Rangmahal area, where he lives, assembled outside the Wadi police outpost and demonstrated against the police saying that the suspect was innocent.

The police is said to have succumbed to the public pressure to avoid any confrontation as the crowd had become restive and bent on violence. 8220;We had to set him free to avoid any violence because the situation had become very volatile with the victims hailing from one community and the suspect from another community8221;, a senior police official said.

It is, however, not known if the suspect confessed his involvement in the series of attacks on minor school-going girls that had created a panic in the Wadi area and forced girls to abandon schools for several days in second and third week of June.

Parmar, talking to The Indian Express, said that the suspect was rounded-up for interrogation as per legal procedure. After his interrogation, an identity parade of the accused was to be conducted. However, the suspect had to be released due to some extraneous reasons.

PI N M Parmar of the Wadi police station said that the executive magistrate on whose summons the suspect was picked up and interrogated had been informed. He said that identity parade had only been deferred and held on some convenient date. Parmar refused to disclose anything about the interrogation except saying that the accused was educated and held a B.Com. degree.

Story continues below this ad

Senior police officials including Deputy commissioner of Police North V J Gautam and assistant commissioner of police Katara rushed to the spot immediately when they learnt of angry residents demonstrating against the arrest of the suspect. Gautam and Katara pacified the angry people and tackled the situation before it could go out of control.

The police reportedly took the decision to release the suspect as a group of people belonging to another community had also gathered near the place and any delay on the part of the police might have resulted into trouble, another police official said.

Meanwhile, situation was totally calm and peaceful in the entire Wadi locality, claimed PSI Krishna Patil of the Wadi Police Outpost.