Arrested for masturbating at woman: What we know about Mumbai resident Gopal Valmiki

Mumbai resident Gopal Valmiki, 26 years old, achieved social media infamy after an American woman posted a photo of him on Twitter, alleging that he masturbated in front of her on a road. After the Maharashtra chief minister’s office intervened and directed a senior police official to look into the matter, an FIR was filed against him at the Colaba police station. He was subsequently arrested on Wednesday morning. Here’s all you need to know about the man, who has been at the receiving end of much public ire for the past two days: [caption id=“attachment_2400600” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “]  Image courtesy: Twitter/MaryAbdo[/caption] - According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, Valmiki lives near Radio Club in South Mumbai with his family. The Hindustan Times reported that he works as a trainee share trader at the Bombay Stock Exchange. Reports also said he was a graduate. - Valmiki was identified by a local vendor, who told the police that his family was the only one presently living in their building. The family is said to be living there as they are in a dispute with the developer. - The man has been arrested under section 509 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with making sexually explicit gestures at a woman to molest her. He has been granted bail by a Mumbai court. - Valmiki has claimed in his defence that the incident was a misunderstanding and that he was urinating when the woman looked at him. His advocate, Sanjay Pandey, has claimed that he had merely gone down to fetch bread when the alleged incident took place. - Even as the news of his alleged act was splashed across news media outlets, Valmiki claimed he was unaware of the outrage taking place. According to Mumbai Mirror, he told the police that he had not been reading newspapers or watching television for the couple of days prior to his arrest.