Man held after attempt to abduct 18-year-old woman on Pune's Katraj-Kondhwa Road

An 18-year-old woman was molested and an attempt was made to carry her off in the Sukhsagar Nagar area on Pune's Katraj-Kondhwa Road. The incident has now come to light. People present at the spot showed courage in time, averting a major tragedy. They beat the accused soundly and handed him over to the police.

The accused has been named as Jitu Kishorilal Saroj. He is 30 years old and originally from Uttar Pradesh. The incident took place on Saturday evening. CCTV footage of it has now surfaced, and it is deeply disturbing. Questions are being asked about how anyone could dare to carry off a girl in full view of everyone in a city like Pune. The incident has once again raised the issue of crime and a worsening law-and-order situation in Pune.

According to the information given by the police, the woman was waiting for a friend in front of Samarth Dairy. It is alleged that the accused then touched her on the chest, pulled at her shirt and lifted her. When the woman screamed, her friend and people nearby rushed to help. They caught the accused and beat him. The complaint also states that during this the accused smashed a man's mobile phone on the ground, breaking it.

The police have taken the accused into custody, and Bharati Vidyapeeth police are investigating the case. It remains to be seen what information emerges from the investigation and the questioning of the accused.

The woman said, "I left home on Saturday and was waiting for my friend in front of Samarth Dairy in the Sukhsagar area at around 6.30. He came there, walked past me and straight away tried to carry me off. At that moment my friend arrived. She pushed him, and I fell down. I hurt my hand in the fall. Even then, he pushed my friend aside and kept trying to carry me off. Later people gathered there. They tried to stop him, but he tried to hit them too. He was a stranger; I had never seen him before. He should be punished. I was saved because my friend arrived, otherwise he would have carried me off."