NEW DELHI – A US national was molested by an NRI inside a five-star hotelin Lutyens’ Delhi. Police said the accused, 25-year-old Anmol SinghKharbanda, has been arrested and sent to judicial custody.

The woman checked into the hotel on January 6 and stayed there till January9. On January 10, she approached police alleging that Kharbanda, a residentof California, had molested her.

She alleged the two were introduced to each other during their stay at thehotel, and that they had drinks in his room on the night of January 8. Inher complaint, she alleged that after having drinks, Kharbanda grabbed herand molested her. She also alleged the accused tried to offer her drinkslaced with sedatives.

Additional Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) B K Singh said that followingthe woman’s complaint, a case under IPC section 354 (assault or criminalforce on woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 328 (causing hurt bymeans of poison, etc with intent to commit an offence) has been registeredat Chanakyapuri police station. Police have recorded the woman’s statementbefore the magistrate.

Police said the accused works as a contractual employee with a tech companyin California, and had come to India for work. The woman, too, was in thecountry for work, police said. Police said the woman had alerted thehotel’s security and management staff about the alleged incident, followingwhich police were informed.

Police said the alleged incident took place between 9 pm and midnight.Police said they have recovered CCTV footage from the hotel, and are tryingto corroborate the sequence of events. They have also inquired about thealleged incident with the security and administrative staff.