A 28-year-old TV actress who was allegedly threatened and molested by a crew member of a production house reported her ordeal to police by dialling 100 and helped cops arrest him within a few hours.

The actress, a resident of north Calcutta, told the police that the accused had been trying to coax her into a relationship but she rejected his advances.

On Monday afternoon, the accused allegedly tried to speak to her. When she refused, he allegedly touched her inappropriately and threatened her with dire consequences.

The woman dialled 100 around 3pm and the call went to the control room of the city police headquarters in Lalbazar.

“The moment we received an alert from Lalbazar, we left for the location and took a written complaint from the woman. By then the accused had left the spot. But we could track him down since he was known to the complainant,” an officer of Lake police station said.

After the rape and murder of a veterinary doctor in Hyderabad, Calcutta police commissioner Anuj Sharma urged all women in the city to dial distress numbers and report attacks on them.

“The biggest success of a police force is to create a high level of awareness among the citizens and inculcate in them the habit of reporting crime to police, instead of taking law in their hands,” an officer said.

Armed with the information provided by the woman, a team from Lake police station caught up with the accused at the Lords Bakery crossing around 7pm on Monday.

The man from Kharagpur now lives on Gobindapur Road in south Calcutta.

Charges under the IPC sections related to outrage of modesty, criminal intimidation and outrage of modesty of a woman through words and gestures have been slapped on the 34-year-old.

If convicted, he could be jailed for five years.

“Investigation has revealed that the victim knew the accused. The latter was interested in a relationship but the woman was not. When the man tried to force her into having an affair with him, she raised an alarm and reported the matter to us. Every woman has the right to say ‘No’,” said an officer in Lalbazar.

The accused was produced in a city court on Tuesday and remanded in police custody.