Thane: Delivery person molests woman in elevator, arrested

Yashwant Dhotare in the custody of the Manpada police. Pic/Navneet Barhate

The Manpada police in Dombivli have arrested a delivery person associated with a food delivery app on charges of sexually assaulting a physiotherapist. According to the police, the incident occurred on Tuesday in the elevator of a high-profile society in Manpada, Dombivli East. Though the accused, Yashwant Dhotare, had fled, the police apprehended him using tracking methods employed by the food delivery app.

On the day of the incident, the physiotherapist visited a patient on the seventh floor of the building, who she had been visiting for the past few years. "After the session, she left the patient's house around 8 pm and took the elevator from the seventh floor. The accused entered the elevator on the sixth floor where he had come to make a delivery. After the elevator started, the accused tried to move closer to the woman and intentionally touched her inappropriately. The woman tried to hold him by his collar, but he pushed her and fled," said an officer from the Manpada police station.

The police said the woman was scared but went back to the sixth floor to check which apartment the food had been delivered to. "She then approached the police. We registered a complaint and started looking for the accused. With the help of technical details such as his mobile number obtained from the food delivery app, we tracked and arrested him," said Police Inspector Ram Chopade, Manpada police.

Sunil Kurade, assistant commissioner of police, Dombivli, and Vijay Kadbane, senior inspector, Manpada police station, formed three teams and arrested Dhotare who is in his early twenties. "We have booked Dhotare under the relevant Indian Penal Code sections and arrested him. We are investigating the case and checking if he has a criminal record," added PI Chopade.