The city police have arrested P.J. Paul, alias Paulson, in connection with the alleged assault on a woman inside the precincts of the Trivandrum Club in April.
J.K. Dinil, Circle Inspector, Museum, said beat policemen from the Cantonment police station had spotted Paul near his house at Statue early on Saturday.
He said Paul tried to run away on seeing the officers, but the men chased and arrested him near University College. The police have charged him with outraging the modesty of a woman under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code.
The museum police had registered a case against Paul on the basis of a first information statement given by the club management.
They stated that on the night of April 10, a woman complained to a few members of the club that Paul had assaulted her. They said Paul was a member of the club and he had allegedly picked up a quarrel with another person at a function hosted by a private bank in the club's party hall.
The woman had come to the club to attend the function. She reportedly told the club members who witnessed the alleged incident that Paul was her “father's friend” and that she did not intend to bring the matter to the attention of the police. The club management arranged an autorickshaw for her to go home.
The police said they traced the woman and recorded her statement. She reportedly told the police that Paul had only verbally abused her in an allegedly drunken state and that he did not assault her. However, investigators said they were not taking the victim's statement at face value. They said she seemed to be under some kind of duress.
The police said they recorded the statements of a few club members who chanced to witness the alleged incident. Some of them had volunteered to give sworn statements about the incident on their own to the court under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The incident had triggered a controversy and certain left-wing organisations had staged a protest outside the club demanding action against the suspect.
