The much-sensationalised molestation of a north-eastern woman in Bengaluru, which grabbed the attention of the entire nation on Wednesday, has found a major breakthrough with the Bengaluru city police arresting four perverts while two are still at large.

BCCL

The four molesters are identified as Aiyappa alias Nitish Kumar, 19, Leno alias Lenin Patrick, 20, Sudhesh alias Sudi, 20, Somashekar alias Chinni, 24, all residents of Kammanahalli area. Police Commissioner Praveen Sood said, "I wholeheartedly appreciate Prashanth Francis, a resident of Kammanahalli who helped us with CCTV camera footage installed at his house which captured the perverted actions of the arrested persons."

Also Read: Bengaluru Witnessed Mass Molestation And Became A City Where Cries For Help Were Louder Than Wishes

The woman who had recently come to the city for her studies had fallen prey to these perverts. It was not a sudden act at all. One of the woman's friends was staying near the arrested person's house.

The victim used to visit the friend's house often, and over the last one week, she stayed at her friend's place along with another friend. This is when she caught the eye of the molesters. The molesters hang around in the area near eateries and tea stalls, and one day when she was passing by the road, all four noticed her. Leno told the group that he would like to date her.

Also Read: Three Days After Bengaluru Was Shocked By Mass Molestation, Cops File FIR With 'Credible Evidence'

Since all the accused had seen the woman in the area, on December 31st night while drinking, they discussed how they could get close to her. After that, they carried some more liquor and food to the nearby Rajkumar park. Spending almost two hours there, they realised it was past 12 am.

BCCL

They went around in the area on their two-wheelers wishing people randomly. This went on till almost 2 am. The gang then decided to have fun with some random woman, but unfortunately the victim and her friend were returning home in an autorickshaw, which Chinni saw. He alerted the rest of his friends, especially Leno, as he was infatuated by her. All of them started challenging Leno to wish her on New Year 'if at all he had guts'.

Thereafter, they started following the autorickshaw in their two-wheelers. The autorickshaw stopped at the corner of the road on 5th main Kammanahalli. The victim's friend left the place after which she paid the driver and started walking alone on the empty dark road.

BCCL

Sudesh, Somashekar and two others at large, went ahead the autorickshaw without stopping as the driver was present. They came back to the corner and stopped monitoring the victim. Signals were passed on to Leno who immediately sped on his scooter towards the woman. However, he was scared to approach her, but Aiyappa sarcastically told him he would show him how a woman was to be greeted. The rest is visible in the footage.

After Francis gave the footage to the police, the police registered an FIR and started analysing the video with the help of Cyber Crime experts. The very first thing the police learnt by seeing the footage was the fact that the molesters were locals as they were seen moving around without any confusion.

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Once they suspected the molesters were locals, they analysed the earlier footage at Francis's house. They noticed that on the same day in the morning, a similar scooter passed on the same road. Police now went on tracking CCTVs installed in the area.

BCCL

The major breakthrough came through the footage. Four camera shots showed the movements of the same scooter on another road, but in this case, a face was visible. Then the local crime police went around collecting information about these youths, especially Chinni, whose face was visible. On interrogating him, they zeroed in on three others.

When the news of this molestation was being flashed by the media, these youths started panicking and tried to erase every possible evidence that would give them away. They also planned to leave the state for some time.