44-yr-old man in Bengaluru arrested for stalking, flashing 21-yr-old techie

A chilling case of stalking has come to light in Bengaluru after a 44-year-old man was arrested by the Puttenahalli police on March 16 following a complaint filed by a 21-year-old techie. Veeraiah was arrested after the woman accused him of stalking and flashing her on the road.

He has been remanded to judicial custody and is currently out on bail.

Maanya*, a techie residing near Puttenahalli, would take her dog for a walk every day between 6 and 7 am. On February 15, Maanya first encountered a middle-aged man on Jaraganahalli Road in JP Nagar. The man allegedly began following her when she walked past him. Maanya, who did not pay much heed to it initially, got scared when he began singing songs to her.

“The woman told us that after the first day, she did not expect him to appear again the next day as well. But the man would appear every single day since February 15 and he would follow her and sing to her,” said Chandrashekar, the court constable at Puttenahalli police station.

Maanya was allegedly apprehensive of telling her parents about Veeraiah. “She thought that he would stop it if she went at different times. Veeraiah runs a business of making and selling incense sticks. He would come to the area and wait for an hour sometimes for her on the pretext of delivering incense sticks to customers,” the Puttenhalli police said.

On March 15, when Maanya was taking her dog for a walk at around 6.30 am, Veeraiah appeared once again. He began following her but this time, he got close to Maanya and allegedly flashed her. Maanya ran back home and informed her parents about the incident and she finally approached the Puttenahalli police.

In order to nab Veeraiah, the police dressed up in civilian clothes and waited for him. When Maanya began walking along Jaraganahalli Road, Veeraiah allegedly approached her once again.

“We arrested him on the spot and took him into custody. He was remanded to judicial custody the same day,” the police added.

Veeraiah has been booked under sections 354D (stalking), 294 (obscene acts and songs) and 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).

Puttenahalli police say that although they made the arrest, the case has now been transferred to the jurisdictional Kumaraswamy Layout police, who will investigate the matter and file a chargesheet.