By Sagar
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Feb 2: A video put up by a girl of her perpetrator who allegedly molested her onboard a Mumbai-Bhubaneswar flight January 27 has received 54,000 hits on Youtube, and drawing vitriolic comments on social media. While the girl has disappeared from media after posting the video and lodging a police case, the accused threatened to file a defamation case against the girl.
A case (20/2015) was registered under section 354 (outraging woman’s modesty) of IPC by Airfield police station Tuesday against RK Jhunjhunwala, a Singapore-based industrialist and native of Rourkela. The accused got bail from a court same day and went back to Mumbai. When Orissa Post spoke to him Monday he was in Bhuj.
“We don’t have witnesses to establish the incident. The passengers onboard have flown back to their destinations,” Rashmi Ranjan Das, inspector-incharge (IIC) of Airfield police station said.
Das also confirmed that Jhunjhunwala was involved in a fraud case in Rourkela as chief managing director of Orissa Refractory Industries Ltd (ORIND) at Lathikata in Sundargarh district. A non-bailable warrant was also issued against him in 2013 after Lathikata unit was illegally declared closed and the management was charged with running away with Rs 20 crore dues of employees. The Orind management also owes Rs 22 crore to the Bank of Baroda and `14 crore to the United Bank of India.
The victim girl, a fashion designer in Dubai, was on her way home and had boarded the Bhubaneswar-Mumbai flight (6E259), after reaching Mumbai Monday morning from Dubai. On board, 70-year-old Jhunjhunwala, who was sitting behind her, allegedly touched her.
“My daughter has given him warning once. But he did it the next time and my daughter screamed at him. She also filmed him while he confessed that he had tried to touch and he was sorry,” Prabhat Narayan, father of victim, said.
The IIC said Jhunjhunwala said he was sorry but also said it was a mistake. Speaking to Orissa Post, RK Jhunjhunwala said, “I was reading newspaper and when the plane was landing, due to little jerk, my hand touched her arm. She got enraged and shouted at me. She made a video of me too.”
“But, while reading newspaper how can you poke your fingers between the space in front seats and reach out to the passenger in the front. That’s not possible unless you do it intentionally,” the IIC said.