Police Commissioner of Bengaluru, Praveen Sood, has said that there is no evidence of mass molestation on New Year's Eve at MG Road and Brigade, according to reports. He said the police have gone through almost 70 CCTV cameras and no proof of mass molestation has emerged yet.
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The police said earlier that no FIRs had been lodged from that night but nevertheless they have taken cognisance and launched an investigation.
"We request them (victims) to come to us and we will probe further to nab the culprits," said Om Prakash, DGP Karnataka on Bengaluru New Year Eve's incident on Thursday.
He said the footage used by the media to implicate mass molestation was actually a lathi charge against unruly crowds to disperse them. There were reportedly 10,000 people gathered in the area. Police had earlier said that there were 60,000 people and 1,600 policemen. The alleged "sex attacks" never took place, he said.
"People ran, there were a lot of girls there. There was panic, there was a melee, they got separated, they were crying... so that 30 seconds of confusion is being projected as a mass molestation. I categorically say that nothing of that sort has happened," he said.
His denial about the occurrence of molestation comes even as several women have said that they were groped that night. He said that nobody has come forward to file complaints despite a public made to that end.
On Wednesday, the police said they would go to women's house to take their complaints. He also said he had seen women giving their statement to the media and will treat them as complaints and launch an investigation.
One woman told BBC that she was assaulted twice, once inside a bar and once while she was walking to meet a friend. She said that despite being with a group of girls "there were guys who were trying to touch here and there", she said. "There was not a single face you could make out or who was doing it," she said, pointing out how difficult it would be to file a complaint.
Meanwhile, six people were arrested for attacking a woman walking down a road in Kammanahalli at night.
"We had a look at it. We saw it was quite a clear case of serious molestation. We didn't wait, we didn't even bother with whom the victim is. We didn't ask her, we wanted to protect her identity. We have registered a criminal case," he said.
