The driver of an autorickshaw allegedly molested a woman who was seated beside him, forcing her to jump off the vehicle when it slowed down near the CAP camp island bus stop near the CF block swimming pool in Salt Lake on Sunday night.

The woman lodged a complaint with the Bidhannagar North police station on Monday. Police tracked down the driver, Pralay Mallick, with the help of footage of CCTV cameras installed on the stretch of First Avenue where the woman was allegedly molested and arrested him on Tuesday afternoon.

The woman, in her late 20s, mentioned in her complaint that she had boarded the autorickshaw at Ultadanga and had to sit beside the driver because the rear seat was occupied by other passengers, an officer of Bidhannagar North police station said.

After the auto entered Salt Lake, the driver allegedly started misbehaving with the woman. “She said in her complaint that the harassment stopped when he protested but resumed after the passengers on the rear seat got off,” the officer said.

“The driver kept touching me inappropriately. At first I thought it was unintentional, but I soon realised that it wasn’t so. None of the co-passengers protested…. When the auto driver slowed down the vehicle and was trying to take a U-turn near the CAP camp bus stop, I jumped out,” the officer quoted the woman as saying.

She then walked home and narrated her ordeal to family members.

On Monday afternoon, family members accompanied the woman to Bidhannagar North police station, where she lodged the complaint.

An officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said they scanned footage of CCTV cameras installed on the stretch and were able to track down the vehicle.

Mallick has been booked under various sections of the IPC, including 354 (using criminal force for outraging modesty of a woman) and 363 (kidnapping). If convicted, he can be jailed for up to seven years.