NOIDA, May 24 -- A 26-year-old executive working at a private company in Noida was arrested for allegedly carrying out a series of attacks on women using scissors in the city's Sector 55 area, police said on Sunday.

The accused, identified as Ankit Verma, a resident of Khoda Colony in Ghaziabad, allegedly targeted women walking alone on deserted stretches and attacked them below the waist before fleeing on his scooter.

Police said the incidents created panic among residents after two women were attacked within a short span on the same evening in Sector 58 Police Station limits.

According to officials , the accused was arrested within a day of the complaints being filed. Officers recovered the scooter used in the crime and a broken piece of scissors allegedly used in the attacks.

Additional DCP Noida Manisha Singh said two women approached Sector 58 Police Station on Friday and reported that a scooter-borne man had attacked them from behind with a sharp object while they were returning home through Sector 55 road.

One of the victims, Aanshi Kumar, originally from Unnao and currently living in a PG accommodation in Sector 56, told police that she was walking near DAV School in Sector 55 around 6.21 pm on Tuesday when a man wearing a white T-shirt on a blue scooter suddenly attacked her with a sharp object on her lower back and sped away. She suffered bleeding injuries and was rushed to a nearby hospital by passersby.

Soon after, another woman, Asha Bhandari, a resident of Sector 22, was similarly attacked by the accused in the same area. She too sustained injuries and underwent treatment at a nearby hospital before filing a complaint.

Police formed multiple teams and used local intelligence inputs and electronic surveillance to trace the accused. During interrogation, Verma allegedly confessed to attacking four to five women. Police said he claimed he committed the assaults "for entertainment" and due to resentment towards women.

Officials said Verma is married, a graduate, and had been working as an executive at a private company in Sector 62 since 2020. Police are now trying to identify other possible victims in the case.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.