Mumbai, June 9 (Mid-Day): In a case that's taken even the police by surprise, a 75-year-old Walkeshwar resident was held for molesting a 30-year-old woman at the Starbucks outlet in Fort.
The woman, who works as a relationship manager with a private bank, told mid-day, "Ashok Desai (75) had approached my bank a few days back to invest money. So, I went by the procedure and called him up on June 5. He said he had some work at Fort and asked me to meet him at the Starbucks outlet at Horniman Circle the same day. I went there and was explaining how he could go about investing the money when the incident took place."
The woman went to the MRA Marg police station and lodged a complaint. When police officials contacted Desai, he admitted to touching the woman inappropriately and begged her for forgiveness.
"He was asking to be forgiven, but such an act should not be tolerated, even if the perpetrator is 75 years old. How can I forgive him? I am of his daughter's age and I was doing my job when the incident happened. No woman would have been able to forgive him," added the survivor.
Senior police inspector Ashok Jagdale of MRA Marg police station said, "It is very strange that a 75-year-old man did something like this."
The accused, Ashok Desai, was arrested on Saturday.
The woman decided not to accept his apology and we registered a case under Section 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC. Desai was produced in holiday court on Sunday and was granted bail