TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police are seeking a man accused of molesting a school girl inside a train who fled by jumping from a platform at Shimbashi Station during rush hour on Thursday, reports TBS News (May 11).
At just before 8:00 a.m., the girl alerted police after the man allegedly fondled the lower half of her body inside a carriage of the JR Keihin Tohoku Line.
Upon arrival at Shimbashi, the victim exited the train with the suspect. However, the man leaped from the platform onto railway tracks and fled the scene heading in the direction of Hamamatsucho Station.
Dressed in a suit, the suspect is believed to be in his late 20s or 30s. His whereabouts are sought on suspicion of violating a public nuisance ordinance regarding being a chikan (groper), reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (May 11).
According to East Japan Railway, the incident delayed 34 trains on six lines for 15 minutes, inconveniencing about 50,000 persons.
There have been eight incidents of persons accused of groping fleeing the scene by jumping onto rail lines in the capital since the middle of March. Last month, police arrested a 41-year-old man in one of the cases.