B'luru: K G Halli molestation 'staged' by couple to stop woman's marriage

Bengaluru: In a major twist to the K.G. Halli molestation case, investigations revealed that the complainant woman and the accused, who is married to her sister for the last six years, were in love with each other and planned the incident to force her parents to give consent to their marriage, thinking that no other man would ask for her hand after the incident. Interestingly, they were inspired after seeing the visuals of the Kammanahalli molestation incident and planned the incident.

The K.G. Halli police, who had registered a case, have arrested Khan, 34, the brother-in-law of the 24-year-old complainant. Khan is a resident of Govindapura in K.G. Halli and works as a sales executive with a private firm.

Additional Commissioner of Police (East) Hemant Nimbalkar told the media on Sunday it was the gait of the accused that gave them the clue. “When we analysed the CCTV footage, we saw that the accused was limping and dragging his left leg. As Khan had accompanied the victim to the station and interacted with the police during the investigation, we found that his walking style was similar to that of the accused. We kept a close watch on him and also videorecorded him while walking without his knowledge. Both the videos were analysed and it was confirmed that it was, in fact, Khan who had allegedly molested the complainant.”

He said, “Moreover, the call details report of both the complainant and the accused revealed that they were in constant touch over phone, despite living in the same house and their conversations were lengthy and even crossed hours in some instances. Based on suspicion, Khan was picked up for interrogation and he revealed that he was in love with his sister-in-law for the last three years.”

“As per his voluntary statement, both wanted to get married but were worried about their family members’ response if they discussed it. Also, her parents were searching for a groom for her. Meanwhile, the recent Kammanahalli molestation case was telecast on all TV channels. They both came up with the plan that if she is molested, no other man would come forward to marry her and Khan could easily convince his wife and marry the complainant,” he added.

As per the plan, Khan did a recce of the houses and shops that had CCTV cameras in the locality and finalised one.

“Early on Friday morning, as per his statement, they acted according to the plan. A few hours after that, Khan approached the owner of the house where the CCTV camera was installed and got the footage. Instead of approaching the police, he gave the footage to TV channels. He also gave interviews to TV channels alleging that law and order was not maintained in the locality. Following his confession, he was arrested on Sunday afternoon,” he said.

Mr Nimbalkar, however, maintained that the police arrested him based on his statement but were not sure whether the complainant was involved in the case. “We are yet to question the complainant. If even she admits to it, then we will initiate action against her for filing a false complaint,” he said.

Complainant lived with sister, bro-in-law for 2 yrs Irshad Khan, who hails from Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, had met the complainant’s sister several years ago in the city. They fell in love and got married six years ago. The couple have a daughter. His wife works in an MNC bank, while his sister-in-law and the complainant works with an online food and grocery store. The complainant was living with the couple for the last two years. Sources said that the complainant had inflicted minor injuries on her hands and legs to make the police believe that the entire incident was real.