The Mumbai police have arrested the owner of an event management firm for allegedly sexually harassing a foreign national woman over the past few years, said officials.
The accused — identified as Pratik Pandey — was produced before a court on Thursday, and remanded to police custody till Saturday. Deputy commissioner of police (zone IX) KK Upadhyay said, “We have arrested and produced the accused before the local court, which has remanded him to police custody till Saturday.”
According to an officer from the police station where the FIR was registered, the woman had come to India a few years ago to build a career in the music industry. She met the accused, Pandey, who heads the firm and started working for him, said the officer, adding that the duo got close and were in a relationship.
The accused promised to marry her and had physical relationship with her, said another officer, adding that the accused, however, got married nearly two years ago without the victim’s knowledge.
He continued the relationship with the victim, while hiding about the marriage. When the victim came to know about the marriage nearly a year ago, she parted ways with him and started working for another company.
The victim woman alleged that the accused, however, harassed her by “bad-mouthing her in presence of employees of whichever companies she worked at” and it allegedly became difficult for her to work at those places over time. The accused had also threatened the woman that her “musical career would end soon”.
Recently, the accused got to know that the woman was in a relationship with a man, and he approached them and abused her. Following this, the woman — through a lawyer — filed a written complaint at the local police station.
According to another officer, police then verified the allegations. “We found out that he (the accused) had indeed approached companies where she worked, and also contacted her boyfriend and bad-mouthed her. We registered an FIR in the matter, and arrested the accused as he was clearly harassing the woman.”
The officer also said that they are collecting evidence against the accused, who has been charged on relevant Indian Penal Code sections, including rape.
