Chennai: A man was beaten up by the public and handed over to the police for molesting a nine-year-old girl at Srinivasapuram, near Marina beach.
According to sources, Devaraj (57) lived in the Housing Board and worked as a watchman. A few weeks ago, he saw a few girls from the neighbourhood playing with water. Taking advantage of the situation, Devaraj took a nine-year-old girl to his house on the pretext of helping her dry herself.
He then molested the girl and threatened her to keep quiet about it. He told the girl that her father would be murdered if she told anyone about it.
Yesterday, when the girl was waiting at a bus stop to go to school, he went there and spoke to her.
He asked her why she never came home after the incident and invited her to come in the evening. Subsequently, the girl told her parents what had happened. The neighbours beat him up and handed him over to the Mylapore All Women Police Station.