PANAJI
A student, trained in boxing, escaped a kidnapping attempt in broad daylight on Friday. The victim fought back the accused, who turned out to be her neighbour and caught hold of him but he escaped before the police arrived.
Hours later, Mapusa police traced the whereabouts of accused Yusuf Shaikh and arrested him.
The victim had alleged in her complaint to the police that the man had raped and molested her some days back. He further threatened her with dire consequences if she disclosed about the incident to her parents.
"Fearing for her life as she knew the accused might stalk her, she had carried chili powder and pepper spray along with her today (Friday). The accused person was also repeatedly calling her and texting her," Superintendent of Police Nidhin Valsan said while revealing the sequence of events.
At around at 1:30 pm the accused followed the victim girl and when he came out of his car, the victim threw chili powder on his face. She also used the spray in her defense as he tried to drag her in the car.
"The victim girl is trained in boxing. When the accused was running away after the attack by the girl, she caught hold of his leg and shouted for help upon which locals gathered and police were called. Before the police arrived the accused managed to run away from the scene," the officer said.
In the video that has gone viral, the girl is seen holding on to the accused person so that he doesn’t run away. "The accused person and the victim girl are neighbours. A day back, on the pretext of providing bike spare parts, he had taken the girl in his car. Since the family knew him, they didn't object. However, he tried to take advantage of the situation, raped and molested her. Since the girl was trained in boxing she defended herself from the accused," Valsan said.
The accused identified as Yusuf Shaikh was arrested after a massive hunt under relevant section of the Indian Penal Code.
