16-year-old girl molested by a man she met through social media

BENGALURU: In the city of Bangalore, a 16-year-old college girl, had alleged that she had been harassed online and molested by a man belonging to the city of Mumbai, who she had befriended on the social media.

The accused, Chirag Thaker, 37, is from Naigaon, east Mumbai, where he is employed at a provision store, police said. The girl, student at the II PU with a private college in east Bengaluru, alleged that Thaker had threatened her with dire consequences if she failed to keep any contact with him.

They became friends on Instagram in the month of December 2017 and had been texting for a few months, said police. Later, he had allegedly morphed a photo, in which the girl and Thaker were seen together. Later, he had started passing remarks at her with sexual innuendos. When she had objected, he threatened to send the morphed photos to the members of her family.

Police have said that he took advantage of her silence and came to Bengaluru last month. When she saw him waiting outside her college, he pulled her towards him and asked her to accompany him. But however, he left the place after she showed discontent, the girl alleged.

The girl told her parents about her ordeal on the 8th of December and a police complaint was registered. “He continued sending her messages even after he returned to Mumbai. He demanded that she read and reply to his messages and threatened to kill her if she didn’t listen to him,” said police.

A police team has already gone to Mumbai to nab Thaker. “We have registered a case of sexual harassment, stalking and criminal intimidation under various IPC sections and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act,” said police.

“We have traced the accused in Mumbai and our team will bring him to Bengaluru to record his statement to know what happened between him and the girl. We will arrest him based on the probe,” said an investigating officer.