The two women were sexually harassed by a group of nearly 60 men near Juhu Beach on the night of December 31 when they were leaving the JW Mariott Hotel along with their male relatives after attending a New Year party.

14 detained in connection with Two NRI women molested in Mumbai

Mumbai, January 4, 2008
Anil Sharma

K L Prasad, Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) told reporters here that 14 people were arrested on Thursday in connection with the molestation of two NRI women outside a five star hotel on the New Year day. One of them surrendered following the repeated coverage received by the case in the media while the rest 13 were arrested from suburban Vile Parle on the basis of a specific tip off.

Two NRI women accompanied by two males, livinf in California, natives of Gujarat were molested by a mob of over 70 men as they came out of the hotel where a New Year special dance show by actor Bipasha Basu was held. Two lensmen from a national daily had managed to click photographs of the shocking incident leading to a public outcry.

K L Prasad:

• The person who has surrendered hails from suburban Kandivali but the main accused in the case. The man wearing white shirt and a red banyan underneath, and seen heckling is yet to be found.
• In their defence, those arrested are saying that their hands were on the victims as they were being pushed by the crowd. We will have an identification parade before the victims leave for the USA on January 10 to bring out the truth.
• All of those arrested are majors and have studied up to class eight or nine, Prasad said, adding that many of them are unemployed or doing petty jobs. They had a party in their society in Parle where they had chicken and some liquor following which they headed to the Juhu beach when the incident occurred

According to the media, one Bunty alias Ravi Shukla gave up before the police at Vile Parle police station while the second, identified as Nilesh, surrendered at Juhu police station. The second man came to the police accompanied by his parents.

The city police on Thursday announced a cash reward for providing information about the suspects. The police on Thursday released the photographs of the incident