A London tourist jumped out of a second-floor balcony in her Agra hotel room in a bid to escape molestation by hotel owner Sachin Chauhan in the early hours of Tuesday. He has been arrested. The girl received minor injuries in the lower limbs and hands.
This is the second incident which rocked Agra within a week after the gruesome murder of a 27-year-old woman research scholar at Dayalbagh University.
Uttar Pradesh IG (Law and Order) Raj Kumar Vishwakarma said the owner of Hotel Agra Mahal knocked at and forced his way into the tourist’s room around 3.45 a.m. He tried to molest the girl under the pretext of giving her a scalp massage and bath. She raised an alarm as he continued to misbehave and, when no help came, jumped out of the balcony. She took an autorickshaw and went to the Paryatan police station.
A case was registered against the hotel owner under Section 354A (1) of the IPC (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty).
Leads in researcher killing
Meanwhile, the police have gathered crucial leads in the research scholar case, with the recovery on Tuesday of bloodstained clothes belonging to a boy, who is suspected to have committed the crime with a sharp-edged weapon in the biotechnology laboratory on Friday night.
The clothes have been sent for forensic examination. However, Mr. Vishwakarma refused to disclose wherefrom the clothes were recovered. He said evidence gathered by the forensic agencies would be disclosed once the report was available.
So far, there has been no headway despite the recovery of the researcher’s laptop from a garbage dump and mobile phone, which was found about 200 metres from the scene of crime. The police suspect that the killer discarded the phone after having removed its battery, SIM card and memory card. The laptop has been to the police cybercell.
As the research scholar was reportedly working on a project worth Rs. 1 crore, the investigating agencies have not ruled out professional rivalry as a possible motive for murder. The body was recovered on Saturday from the lab, which found locked from outside. It is suspected that the fleeing killer locked the room.
Several students and teachers of the university have been questioned.
