Bengaluru: A home guard in her 30s is under scrutiny for allegedly helping her friend Santosh Daniel, accused of molesting a girl at night in southeast Bengaluru, in escaping from the city and evading police.
The home guard is also said to have accompanied Santosh, who fled Bengaluru on April 9. She was with him when he was arrested in Kerala on Sunday.
Though police have not arrested the home guard so far, she is being questioned. Police suspect that she was updating Santosh about the police efforts to track him.
Investigations revealed that the home guard, currently working at Bellandur police station, is a close friend of Santosh, a test driver at an imported car showroom. Also, the single mother lived in the same locality as Santosh’s – Gulbarga colony, Tilaknagar.
“She first saw the news about the molestation on electronic media where Santosh’s picture was shown and alerted him. Working with police, she knew well that mobile phones help cops in tracing suspects. She advised him to discard his SIM card and use another one. Accordingly, she purchased another SIM card in her name and handed it over to Santosh. She also gave him around Rs 10,000 in cash,” an investigating officer said.
According to the home guard, she trusted Santosh when he claimed innocence and helped him out.
On April 6, Suddaguntepalya police registered a suo motu case against Santosh after a video clip showing him molesting a female student in the early hours of April 3 went viral. Santosh was brought to Bengaluru late Sunday night and was presented before a magistrate Monday morning. He has been remanded in police custody for two days.