New Delhi, Feb 3 (IANS): A local court Monday sent a man, accused of molesting two Manipuri women here, to one day in police custody.

Seeking remand of accused Prem Chand, police told the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Dheeraj Mor that the complainants also accused the men involved in the case of stealing a mobile phone from them.

The magistrate remanded Chand to one day's police custody after police said he was required for further interrogation and to trace the other accused.

Chand's counsel Vinod Gupta opposed the police plea, saying that stealing of a mobile phone was not mentioned in the complaint lodged Jan 24, and that the women disclosed it later in another supplementary complaint to implicate his client.

Police said the two women, in their late 20s, were beaten up by a group of men in Kotla Mubarakpur area of south Delhi on the evening of Jan 24.

On that day, one of the women had gone to buy some Manipuri herbs from a shop in the neighbourhood run by one of her acquaintances.

Meanwhile, a pet dog -- being taken down the street -- escaped its owner and while fleeing got its leash entangled with the boots of one of the Manipuri women.

The woman said she panicked and in a bid to get rid of the dog started kicking at the animal.

The men then started beating her, saying she had ill-treated the dog. The other woman, who tried to intervene, was also thrashed by the men. The men also passed racist comments against them, police said.

Prem Chand, the arrested man, is the owner of the dog, police said.

Meanwhile, one of the women's male companion recorded his statement before a magistrate here. The women's statement will be recorded Tuesday.

A case has been lodged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (assault or criminal force otherwise than on grave provocation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 34 (common intent).