Indore: The Painter Who Became a Predator — and the Six-Hour Chase That Shamed a Nation
INDORE: He looked like an ordinary man — white shirt, faded jeans, a black cap pulled low over his forehead. But behind that simple face hid a name that police files whispered with dread:
Aqeel alias “Naitra,” a 29-year-old repeat offender from Khajrana, Indore, whose brazen act of harassment against two Australian women cricketers in broad daylight has shaken not only the city but also India’s international reputation for hospitality and safety.
The Crime That Rocked Indore
It was an ordinary October morning when two members of the Australian women’s cricket team decided to walk from their hotel toward The Neighborhood Café on Khajrana Road.
Suddenly, a man on a bike approached them, pretending to ask for a selfie. Within moments, he behaved inappropriately with one of the players — and sped away before anyone could react.
Shaken but still hoping it was an isolated act, the cricketers continued walking.
But within minutes, the same man returned and harassed the second player, before vanishing once again into the traffic.
Terrified, both players immediately shared their live location and triggered an SOS alert to their team’s security manager, Danny Simmons.
What followed was one of Indore’s fastest coordinated manhunts in recent memory.
The Manhunt: Six Hours of Strategy and Speed
The moment Simmons’ complaint reached authorities, Commissioner of Police Indore ordered an all-out pursuit.
Five police stations — Khajrana, MIG, Vijay Nagar, Rajendra Nagar, and Banganga — were mobilized simultaneously.
Teams pored over hours of CCTV footage, tracing the suspect’s movements and narrowing down his escape route. The bike — a familiar model with partial registration digits — became the key clue.
By 3 p.m., after six hours of pursuit, officers cornered Aqeel in Azad Nagar. He attempted to resist arrest and crashed while trying to flee, sustaining fractures in his leg and arm.
When he was finally brought in, he was trembling — the arrogance gone, the black cap now evidence.
A History Written in Crime
For Indore Police, the face was not new. Aqeel’s criminal record read like a catalog of violence.
A habitual offender, he had over ten serious cases against him — including molestation, assault, robbery, attempted murder, and theft. Four of these were registered in the Khajrana Police Station alone.
Aqeel had once served 10 years in Bhairavgarh Jail (Ujjain) and had been released on parole just four months ago. Far from reforming, he slipped back into crime almost immediately.
Last year, while on parole, he allegedly attacked a couple with a knife in the Kanadia area, attempting to molest the woman. In another shocking incident, he had snatched a police rifle in Ujjain and opened fire.
Police records show he worked as a painter by profession, the son of daily-wage laborers — but behind that humble background lay an unrelenting streak of violence.
The Case That Shamed the System
The FIR, filed by Australian team security head Danny Simmons at MIG Police Station, invoked Sections 74 and 78 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) — India’s updated criminal code.
Additional DCP (Crime) Rajesh Dandotia confirmed: The case was registered based on the complaint from the Australian team’s security official.
Aqeel was arrested within six hours through an intensive strategic operation. He has multiple prior cases and is known to be a habitual offender.”
But while the arrest offered relief, it also exposed uncomfortable questions about public safety, repeat offenders, and law enforcement surveillance.
How could a man with such a record walk freely — again and again — until he targeted foreign nationals?
Nationwide Outrage
The incident triggered outrage across India.
Madhya Pradesh Sports Minister Vishwas Sarang condemned the act, saying: This incident is shameful.
The accused has been arrested and will face exemplary punishment. No one should dare to repeat such an act.”
BJP MLA Rameshwar Sharma went a step further: We will invoke the National Security Act (NSA) against Aqeel and hold a public parade. Whether the daughter is from Australia or England, her safety is our responsibility.”
Social media, too, erupted with anger — demanding accountability, stronger monitoring of released convicts, and safer public spaces for women.
A Mirror to the City
As Aqeel sits in custody — his leg in a cast, his hands bandaged, his eyes cast down — his story reflects something far larger than one man’s crime.
It’s the story of a system that punishes but rarely reforms, a city that prides itself on safety yet keeps its eyes half-shut, and a society that forgets its duty until shame is international.
Indore calls itself the cleanest city in India. But as this case reminds us, clean streets mean little when the conscience is unguarded.
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