MUMBAI: A 24-year-old auto driver has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping a minor girl and molesting her in Virar on Monday.

According to the Virar police, Vinay Jha, a resident of Sahakar Nagar in Virar (east) followed the 16-year-old college student in his auto at around 8am on Monday. As a routine, the girl got into an auto to go to college. Mid-way, the auto driver stopped near a shop to have paan. Jha halted his auto, charged towards the auto in which the girl was seated and drove away. He forced the two other passengers to alight.

He drove along with the girl to Virar (west) where he proposed marriage to her. The girl refused and he allegedly molested her. He then left her on the road in Virar and fled. The girl returned home and informed her parents, who registered a police complaint.

The police launched a search for Jha and later arrested him from Virar where he was hiding. He has been remanded to two days police custody by the Vasai sessions court. He has been booked under sections 354 (outrage modesty), 363 (kidnapping) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. The girl in her statement to the police said that Jha used to harass her when she stepped out for college. She had, however, not mentioned it to her parents.

The police are ascertaining whether the auto driver who halted the vehicle to have paan was involved in the crime.