US-returned techie held for harassing woman

Hyderabad: A 25-year-old US-returned engineer was arrested for allegedly harassing a woman in Kompally on Sunday.

According to the Petbasheerabad police, P Naresh of Mallepally finished engineering from the city and, after a brief stint at an NGO in Srinagar Colony, went to work in the United States a few years back.

While working at the NGO, Naresh got acquainted with a woman colleague from Kompally. Over a period of time, he developed a soft corner for her, but left for the US, police said.

A year ago Naresh returned from the US and tried to contact his former colleague, who is working as a sales executive at an automobile company in Kompally.

“After returning from the US, Naresh got in touch with the woman and very soon, started pressurising her to marry him. As the woman refused to marry him, in October 2008, Naresh consumed All Out mosquito repellent in front of her house,” Petbasheerabad inspector of police T Srinivas Reddy said.

The incident came to the notice of police and Naresh was rushed to hospital. However, no cases were registered as the woman did not lodge a complaint. “An undertaking was taken from Naresh that he would not repeat such things,” Srinivas Reddy said.

But Naresh did not mend his ways and continued to trouble the 24-year old woman to marry him or else he would end his life.

According to the police, he called 108 times on the woman’s mobile on Saturday and 30 times on Sunday morning. Terribly upset with the harassment, the woman approached police on Sunday. “Fed up with the harassment, the young woman lodged a complaint with police on Sunday,” Srinivas Reddy said.

Naresh has been taken into custody. A case under sections 506 (Criminal intimidation) and 509 (Uttering any word or making any gesture intending to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) were registered against him. He would be produced before court on Monday.