Chandigarh Police verified 900 white scooters during hunt for ‘serial molester’

Amit Sharma

Chandigarh, July 3

The Chandigarh police conducted a meticulous search to nab a “serial molester”, focusing on white Activa scooters in the tricity. Nearly 900 white scooters were verified by the police. Despite the efforts of 25 police teams, the accused initially evaded arrest but was eventually apprehended at a checkpoint.

Cops recover footage in Sector 11 case

The CCTV footage from Sector 15 shows the accused following the victim into her PG accommodation under the pretext of helping him locate an address. A minute after, both return to the place across the road where he had parked his white scooter. The accused takes her along on the two-wheeler towards Sector 11 where she was molested.

Police to conduct identification parade

The UT police are set to conduct a test identification parade. According to the sources, an application is being filed in the court for this purpose. The parade is conducted during the judicial custody of an accused. The victim must identify the accused from a group including other individuals.

The accused hails from Uttarakhand and his scooter was registered there.

The accused, Sawan Bhatti, a 28-year-old gym trainer, had allegedly molested a woman at a park in Sector 16 on May 19 and another female in the Sector 11 park, for which a case was registered on June 10.

A police official said the key clue in the investigation was that the accused used a white Activa in both incidents. The police obtained information about white Activa scooters from the registration authorities of Chandigarh, Panchkula, and Mohali.

Sources said there were 678 white Activa scooters registered in Mohali and around 100 each in Chandigarh and Panchkula. The teams were asked to visit each address on which these scooters were registered to verify the owners.

“It was a Herculean task, but we were determined to complete it. I personally visited around 50 addresses,” said a policeman from the Sector 17 station. Besides the scooter’s colour, the police knew it had a dent and a tampered registration plate.

“In addition to checking the scooter thoroughly during house visits, we gathered information about any man matching the victim’s description,” said another officer.

The investigation team got a breakthrough when the accused, who was riding the same scooter, was stopped by the police at the Sector 23 light point for checking.

A cop said the accused acted smart by not using his phone while perpetrating the crimes. He avoided service lanes, slip roads and cycle tracks to evade cameras. The accused would tamper with the scooter’s number plates before going near the crime scene.