Mumbai, Dec 5 (IANS): A 29-year-old man was arrested by the Churchgate Government Railway Police (GRP) for stalking and assaulting a TV artist and her friend at Charni Road railway station in the city. The arrested man, identified as Shahrukh Shaikh, is a resident of Worli. He said he works at a south Mumbai nightclub.

The TV artist, Harshita Kashyap, 26, was a contestant of "Splitsvilla 8" and is currently working in an upcoming web series. She lives in Four Bungalows, Andheri, according to a report in hindustantimes.com.

According to Harshita, the man started stalking her friend and her when they were at the station to board a train back home. When they ascended the stairs to reach their platform, the man started following them.

When Harshita confronted the man, he retorted: "If I am staring at you, what is the problem?"

Harshita told Hindustan Times that they decided to ignore him and walked on. However, when they were on the foot over-bridge, Shaikh was still behind them. When they asked him again why he was following them, Shaikh attacked them.

"He first slapped Pala which shook her. I go to the gym daily and as I am fit I decided to teach him a lesson and started hitting him. Shaikh retaliated and he even started hitting me. The office goers and co-passengers intervened meanwhile the police personal arrived and took us to the GRP chowki on the platform," Harshita said.

Inspector B. Pawar of Churchgate GRP said they had arrested the accused after registering an offence against the accused under sections 354 (a), 354 (b) and 323 of Indian Penal Code.