‘Serial molester’ in Chandigarh police net

Amit Sharma

Chandigarh, July 2

A gym trainer has been arrested for molesting a girl at a park in Sector 16 here.

The victim was having a walk alone in the park on May 19 when the incident took place. A day later, a case under Sections 354, 354-A, 376 and 506 of the IPC was registered at the Sector 17 police station.

The police said the suspect was identified as Sawan Bhatti (28), a resident of Sector 49 and a native of Uttarakhand. He worked as trainer at a gym in Phase V, Mohali. The accused was nabbed at a naka laid near the Sector 23 light point yesterday.

The police said the suspect, a BSc (computer science) graduate, allegedly committed the same crime earlier regarding which a case was registered at the Sector 11 police station on June 10. He had allegedly committed the crime at a park in Sector 11.

The police claimed that the suspect confessed to having committed seven other such incidents in Mohali and Chandigarh. These incidents were not reported by victims.

Police sources claimed that his interrogation revealed that his initial motive was snatching. However, when he noticed girls out on a walk at night he used to target them.

The sources said the suspect refrained from using phone during the incidents and took service lanes, slip roads and cycle tracks to avoid getting captured on CCTV cameras. He also used to cover the number plate of his vehicle with a tape near the crime spots. The police said they were after the suspect for the past around a month and a half, for which 25 teams were constituted. The entire operation was coordinated by the District Crime Cell.