French consulate staffer molested in Mumbai’s Bandra; 50 CCTV cams help cops trace attacker

Police probe

A 27-year-old French woman working with the French consulate in Mumbai was molested by a scooter rider in Bandra West shortly after midnight on November 8.

The woman was walking back to her accommodation after visiting a friend at Pali Hill when the man began following her. According to the police, the scooterist stopped beside her, touched her inappropriately, and then sped away.

The French consulate filed an official complaint on November 14, six days after the incident. Once the case was registered, the Khar police launched a detailed investigation and managed to identify and arrest the suspect within a day.

The police went through more than 50 CCTV camera recordings from the area to trace the attacker. Some of the footage from the street had already been overwritten, but officers were able to recover crucial clips showing the suspect, identified as Sunil Waghela, 25, following the woman on his scooter.

In one clip, he was seen pulling up beside her before fleeing after the molestation.

Police tracked the scooter’s registration number and traced it to Waghela’s residence near the Dharavi police station, barely 100 metres away.

Waghela, a scrap dealer by profession, was arrested on Saturday night, less than 24 hours after the complaint reached the Khar police station.

"A few CCTV footage retrieved from the spot were overwritten, but we managed to retrieve footage of Waghela following the woman on a scooter. He stopped next to her and then sped away after molesting her," TOI quoted an officer from Khar police station,” TOI quoted an official as saying.

Officers are also checking if the accused had been watching or following the woman earlier and why he was in Bandra at that hour. A police officer said it appeared he may have stalked her for a few days before the incident.

After registering an FIR under Section 74 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for assault or use of criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty, DCP (Zone IX) Dikshit Gedam formed a special team to handle the case.

The team, led by ACP Adikrao Pol and comprising senior inspector Sanjeev Dhumal, inspector Vaibhav Katkar, assistant inspector Bharat Satpute, and sub-inspectors Hanumant Kumbhare and Manik Ghogare, laid a trap near Waghela’s house.

When police detained him, several family members and local residents tried to interfere and created a commotion. The police team eventually cleared the crowd and took the accused into custody. Waghela was produced before the holiday court in Bandra on Sunday, which sent him to police custody till Monday.

Similar cases involving foreign nationals

In March 2025, Mumbai police arrested a driver for allegedly molesting a 23-year-old woman from a foreign armed force returning to her ship at Mumbai Port Trust.

In March 2023, a 19-year-old guest house manager was arrested and later sentenced to two years for outraging the modesty of a 38-year-old tourist from Peru.

In December 2022, two men were arrested for harassing a South Korean YouTuber while she was livestreaming from Khar.