Bengaluru molestation 'staged' by couple to stop woman's marriage

In a major twist to the Bengaluru molestation case in which a burqa-clad woman was attacked, investigations revealed that the complainant woman and the accused, who is married to her sister for the last six years, were in love with each other and planned the incident to force her parents to give consent to their marriage, thinking that no other man would ask for her hand after the incident.

Irshad Khan, the accused, allegedly planned the incident after the CCTV footage of a sexual assault in Bengaluru grabbed eyeballs on national television last week.

Irshad allegedly staged the incident in front of a shop which had a CCTV camera, police said. He then approached the police with his sister-in-law, the victim, on Friday with a complaint alleging molestation by an unidentified person.

The accused was in love with his sister-in-law for three years and planned the incident after the girl’s family began looking for a groom for her, police said. Irshad staged the incident hoping that the marriage plans would be stalled over such an incident, police said. Irshad denied his involvement in the incident during questioning, but he broke down when presented with evidence, police said.

“We have arrested Irshad under charges of criminal conspiracy. We will contemplate booking the victim for perjury based on evidence,” Hemanth Nimbalkar, Additional Commissioner of Police (east) was quoted as saying.