Four youths held for molestation, bailed out

The startling incident occurred more than a fortnight ago — around 7 pm on March 28 to be precise — when the victim, along with her two female friends, was on her usual evening walk at Civil Lines.

The three were walking towards Vijay Club when a white Maruti (MH31-Z7293) with four youngsters, came from the opposite direction and made a sudden halt.

Before they could realise what was happening, one of the youngsters sitting on the rear seat reached out his hand and molested the woman. In a flash, the car spedaway along the road towards the WCL headquarters. But not before one of the three noted the registration number of the vehicle.

On April 16, the victim called Commissioner of Police, Ullhas Joshi, and narrated the incident. Based on this, an offence of molestation, assault and common motive was registered by the Sadar police and soon the cops set out in search of the culprits.

They traced the car and its owner, Pravin Kumar Agrawal, who, according to police, tried to resist his arrest through his lawyer, Arun Agrawal, and father, Mohan Goverdhan Agrawal. The latter tried to put pressure on the police in a bid to shield his son, police charged.

Pravin’s associate, Rajendra Shrichand Menani alias Rajya (23) of Masoba lane in Bajeria locality, who actually molested the victim, was also arrested later. Menani’s uncle, Meghraj Tolaram Menani, a prominent fruit dealer, also tried to shield him, police said.

When the police insisted that the duo would be released on bail only if any four women from prominentfamilies in the Civil Lines were prepared to execute their bail bonds, the two families managed to garner support from their four female acquaintances.

The two youngsters were released after their bails were executed by Dr Rajlaxmi Jagendra Jain (35) and Urmila Rameshchandra Agrawal (45) in Sadar, Rinku Jugalkishore Arora (29) in Sitabuldi and Kavita Kishore Rao (28) of WCL quarters.