Mumbai: Man arrested for flashing 23-year-old woman inside ATM, post goes viral

A 38-year-old Thane resident has been arrested on Sunday flashing a woman inside an ATM centre in the wee hours.

According to a report in The Hindustan Times, the accused has been identified as Sandeep Kumbharkar and is a resident of Kopri.

Shibani, a 23-year-old woman stopped at the ATM in Mulund to withdraw money and pay her rickshaw driver but she faced some issue while traction. Kumbharkar, who was inside the kiosk at that time, offered to pay the driver on her behalf. When the complainant refused, he touched her inappropriately and flashed her. 

 

 

 

 

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This is what happened: Last night, I was coming home from bandra after a gig and I stopped the rickshaw at an ATM near my house. I enter the ATM and I'm frustrated when the machine won't dispense money. This is the first time when the man (Sandeep Khumbharkar) enters the ATM and asks if I need help or want him to pay for the ride. I politely decline saying that I'll manage. Once I exit the ATM, I get into an argument with the rickshaw guy with regards to how I'll be paying him the fare. This is when a cop car pulls up and I explain my situation to them. 5-10 mins after talking to the cops, I say that I'll give the ATM another try. I'm once again at the ATM trying to withdraw money. And the man enters the ATM once again. But this time, he moves in closer and touches my shoulder and thigh, again asking if I need help. I instantly back off and yell at him to stay away from me and that I don't need his help. I go back to trying to withdraw money again, and he's still there. When I hear him, he's calling out to me and blatantly asking me to look at his hard dick that he had pulled out of his denim's zipper area. I quietly start my video recorder and turn the camera right at him. That's when he freaks out and runs out of the ATM. I run to the cop car and show them the video. They instantly start following the guy who has fled on his scooter. So today morning, I go the police station and they have already informed me that they have the guy in custody. He's crying and pleading. But I knew I had to take action against him. So along with my dad, I filed an FIR against him. He claimed to be drunk at the time, which does not exuse his actions at all. What he did, was scary and terrifying. This was a locality wherein I felt safe. But he has ruined it for me. I can't walk the streets feeling the same sense of safety. AND THIS IS MY HOME! I will be giving my official statement to the judge in the coming week and I plan on taking this man to court and make him pay for the way he made feel. What's baffling is that he felt it was okay to flash his dick in a place full of cameras. (Continued in comments)

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The woman started to film the incident on her phone and on seeing the camera the Kumbharkar fled the spot. Shibani found a police van on patrol duty and showed the video. The police then chased the accused for about a kilometre before nabbing him, the deputy commissioner of police was quoted as saying by HT. 

The accused was charged under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) 354 (A) (making sexually coloured remarks, shall be guilty of the offence of sexual harassment) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Later, woman took to social media and thanked Mumbai Police to for helping her. "What he did, was scary and terrifying. This was a locality wherein I felt safe. But he has ruined it for me. I can't walk the streets feeling the same sense of safety," she wrote.