A woman was molested and assaulted by a man in a suburban train bound for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus late on Thursday night, police said on Friday.
The accused — identified as a cabbie from Byculla, 32-year-old Rafiq Khan — and the victim were known to each other and he owed her money over which they had an alteration in the train, police added.
The incident occurred around 11pm on Thursday. A disabled commuter on an adjoining seat shot a video of the incident.
The video, which lasts a few minutes, was circulated widely on social media. It also spurred the police into immediate action.
In the video, Khan is seen suddenly pouncing on the woman sitting on the opposite seat in the compartment for the differently-abled. He then drags her by the hair and tries to strangle her. He molests her and tears off her clothes even as other commuters raise an alarm to alert a policeman in the adjoining compartment.
When she resists and pushes him off her, he falls on the train floor, but gets up and again lunges at the woman on the seat as she screams for help.
According to Government Railway Police Dadar senior inspector Nitin Bobde, the woman had lent money to Khan as she had known him over a few years.
Late on Thursday, they caught the suburban train from Dombivali, bound for CSMT and en route, the woman asked for her money back from Khan and told him to stop harassing her.
Apparently angered by this, Khan abused, molested and attacked her in public view even as the train was approaching Dadar station.
A GRP police team waiting at Dadar took Khan into custody as he de-boarded. After a complaint registered by the victim, Khan was arrested early on Friday.
