'Evidence of players' involvement in molestation'

The Mumbai police on Wednesday claimed to have evidence of involvement of three players of Churchill Brothers, Goa's leading football club, in the alleged molestation of an airhostess on board a SpiceJet flight on Tuesday night and said they would file a charge sheet against them within three months.

"We have evidence of involvement of the players in the incident of alleged molestation and misbehaviour with the cabin crew and the charge sheet will be filed within the stipulated 90-day period," Assistant Commissioner of Police S W Jambulkar said.

"The statements of the accused and victim have already been recorded. We are now gathering more evidence against the accused. We will soon record the statements of the witnesses including co-passengers and crew members," he said.

The officer said co-passengers from Goa, Kolkata, Mumbai and some other cities will be requested to come forward and get their statements recorded.

The arrested footballers -- Nigerians Odafe Okolie (25) and Ogba Kalu (20) and Arindam Bhattacharya (20) were granted bail on Wednesday on a personal bond of Rs 5,000 each.

The three were booked under Sections 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman), 509 (words, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and Section 34 (common intention to commit a crime) of the IPC.

Churchill goalkeeper pleads innocence

Meanwhile, in Kolkata, implicated with Okolie and Kalu, Churchill Brothers' goalkeeper Bhattacharya said he was nowhere connected with the incident and all of them are innocent.

"I was sitting behind when the incident happened after the plane took off around 6 pm. Odafe and Felix (Chimaokwu) were sitting together and they might have touched the airhostess unintentionally," he said.

"They don't know the language well, so I tried to intervene after overhearing from the back row. I protested and the airline staff identified us. We are innocent. The incident was quite shocking," Bhattacharya said.

The Kolkata lad along with Nigerian duo were arrested and detained at Mumbai airport on the charges that they misbehaved with an airhostess and other cabin crew members while on board a Kolkata-bound flight from Goa.

Not only the three were offloaded, but the 23-member Churchill Brothers contingent had to leave the aircraft and were at Mumbai airport till 2 am before they were taken to a hotel. They arrived in Kolkata on Wednesday afternoon for their I-League match against Mohun Bagan on Thursday.

Bhattacharya said Odafe is one of the most respected foreign players and highest paid footballer in the country.

"He is known for well-behaviour. He is married with children. The charges are false. Everybody knows Odafe is a star in Indian football. They want to take advantage and malign his image," Bhattacharya said.

The successful India Under-23 goalkeeper denied that they had to be bailed out from the airport.

"There was no charge against us. We just were made to sit in the airport and left for the hotel late night," he said.

Odafe was the top scorer in the I-League for the last three seasons and instrumental in Churchill's success.

Last season's I-League champions Churchill Brothers had lifted both the IFA Shield and Durand Cup last year, beating Mohun Bagan on both occasions.