Man held for stealing lingerie from Bengaluru women's hostel

A mentally disturbed person was arrested for allegedly stealing lingerie from the Maharani Women's College hostel in the city and wearing them, said police on Wednesday.

"Abu Tallem, 33, was arrested for entering the Maharani Women's College hostel in nude, stealing inmates' lingerie and wearing them," Bengaluru Central Deputy Commissioner of Police Chandra Gupta told reporters here.

The accused, working in the Bangalore Turf Club as a caretaker of horses, was captured indulging in the obscene act on the hostel's terrace by a closed-circuit television camera installed on the college campus.

"Though we came to know that Taleem was suffering from a mental disorder for a long time, we will subject him to a medical test for deciding his custody," said Gupta.

The hostel warden lodged a complaint against the accused with the video footage in the High Grounds Police Station on Tuesday.

According to the complaint, an unidentified person was seen entering the hostel premises after midnight, stealing the lingerie of inmates hung on clothesline for drying and walking out after wearing some of them.

"We zeroed in on Taleem after quizzing about 100 suspects with the help of the video footage," said Police Inspector Lakshmikanth.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Taleem came to Bengaluru from Kishanganj district in Bihar over a decade ago in search of a job.

"Taleem has a peculiar habit of wearing women's lingerie for smelling. He would discard them after a few days. He confessed to us that he was fond of women's lingerie and developed intimacy with many transgender in the city," added Gupta.

On days when Taleem did not find other women's innerwear, he would wear his wife's lingerie beneath his shirt and trousers while dressing up for duty.

"This is a mental disorder wherein a person has a fetish for women's lingerie," said Columbia Asia Hospital's psychiatrist Meena Gynashekaran.

--IANS

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