Kolkata, Sep 9 (IANS): The Kolkata Police has finally arrested the key accused in Anandapur molestation and run-over incident. The arrest was made after three days of the shocking incident.
According to police sources, Abhishek Pandey was arrested late Tuesday from near a private school in Kolkata. He was arrested from a car near EM Bypass. Pandey was hiding in a guest house at Dumdum area after the incident but later he escaped from there and hiding in a car near EM Bypass, police said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told the Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma to track down the accused and arrest him immediately. Pandey was on the run since the occurrence on Saturday night.
The Kolkata Police had already identified and seized the vehicle of the accused and also interrogated his mother at the city police headquarters on Tuesday.
The alleged molestation took place in the heart of the city when Nilanjana Chatterjee, a resident of south Kolkata's Anandapur area, was returning home with her husband Deep Satpathy in their car. She heard a woman sitting beside the driver in a Honda City car behind them screaming for help. Chatterjee immediately got out of her vehicle and rushed towards the Honda City car.
Its driver pushed the woman out of the car and tried to speed away. The car hit Nilanjana who suffered a shin bone fracture and sped off. She was admitted to a nearby private hospital where she underwent a surgery on Monday.
Banerjee on Tuesday appreciated Nilanjana Chatterjee for her act of bravery. She also said that the state government would carry out all the medical expenses of Nilanjana Chatterjee. Kolkata Police Commissioner also spoke to Chatterjee over phone via Anandapur police station's officer-in-charge Debal Kumar Das. He assured the braveheart with every possible assistance from the police administration. Few hours after that, accused Abhishek Pandey was arrested.
According to police sources, Pandey had befriended the woman with a fake identity for almost a year and they became friends over the phone. As their relationship developed, the lady went to meet him on Saturday night and they went out in a car.
Police said Pandey also deleted the WhatsApp chat history with the woman and threw her cellphone after the incident. The police had arrested Amitabha Basu, the driver of the offending vehicle, on Sunday afternoon. The woman who was allegedly molested in the car also registered a complaint with the Anandapur police station.