Mumbai, Apr 6 (Mumbai Mirror) : A 23-year-old man was arrested by the Vakola police on Thursday for sneaking into a woman's apartment and molesting her while she and her roommates were asleep.

The accused, identified as Ritukumar Kharva, who worked in a catering business, had been keeping track of the victim's movements for the past few days. The woman, who hails from Manipur, was expecting a friend from Gujarat late on Wednesday night, due to which she had left her door unlocked.

Kharva had seen the woman, who works in a five-star hotel, do the same when he had followed her on previous occasions. He entered the house, lay down next to the woman, and started kissing her. Startled, the woman started screaming, and Kharva bolted towards the door. The roommates followed him, but he had already escaped.

The woman filed a complaint the next day. However, in the evening, he once again turned up below her apartment wearing new clothes and sunglasses. One of her roommates recognised him, after which they gathered a few locals, bashed him up and handed him over to the Vakola police.

Kharva is charged under section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (outraging the modesty of a woman) and 452 (trespassing). He was produced in court and remanded to custody.

Senior Police Inspector Vinayak Mulay of Vakola police station said, "We have arrested Kharve and produced him before the court, which sent him to a day's police custody."