Owner of women’s hostel chain in Coimbatore arrested for sexually harassing college student

The police on Tuesday arrested the owner of a women’s hostel chain in Coimbatore, on charges of sexually harassing a college student on Monday.

According to the police, K. Rajkumar, 51, a resident of P.K.D. Nagar at Peelamedu, was arrested based on a complaint lodged by the student.

According to the police, Rajkumar is running seven hostels in the name ‘Sakthi Ladies Hostel’ in the city, out of which four are situated at Peelamedu. College students and working women reside in these hostels.

As per the complaint lodged by a college student staying at the hostel at Peelamedu, she was using the cab service provided by the hostel to travel to her college and return after classes. In the alleged absence of the cab driver, Rajkumar went to pick the student from college in his car around 4 p.m. on Monday. As they were proceeding to the hostel, Rajkumar allegedly harassed the girl student sexually in the moving car, said the police.

According to the police, the girl got out of the car and informed her parents about the incident. The girl and her relatives went to the house of Rajkumar around 9.30 p.m. and questioned him for his acts. This led to heated arguments and quarrel, following which the Peelamedu police were alerted. Sub-inspector Madasamy and his team rushed to the residence of the accused and brought Rajkumar to Peelamedu police station.

A case was registered against Rajkumar for offences under Sections 75 (sexual harassment) and 115 (2) (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 4 (penalty for harassment of women) of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act.

Peelamedu inspector L. Kandaswamy said the hostel owner was arrested on Tuesday and he was sent to judicial remand.

Published - October 22, 2024 09:21 pm IST