A 30-year-old trader from Howrah was arrested on Tuesday night for allegedly molesting a woman on a private bus.

Rohan Kumar Jaiswal boarded the near-empty bus from Gariahat Road South and took a seat reserved for women, police said. Soon after, he allegedly started touching the woman next to him inappropriately.

The woman, a 22-year-old student, told the police that she objected several times and asked Jaiswal to sit properly but in vain.

“The woman had boarded the bus from College Street and was headed home near South City Mall on Prince Anwar Shah Road,” an officer of Lake police station said. “There were a few passengers on the bus and no one had noticed when the man sat down next to the woman,” a police officer said.

As the bus moved down Jodhpur Park and turned left onto Prince Anwar Shah Road, the woman started shouting Jaiswal. Alerted by her cries, other passengers surrounded Jaiswal, who kept pleading innocence.

The woman dialled 100 and narrated her plight before sharing the route number of the private bus and its location. The officer who took the call alerted Lake police station and a message was sent to officers posted near South City Mall. A police team on night patrol reached the South City bus stop, where the woman had said she would alight.

Jaiswal was arrested on the basis of the woman’s statement. He was granted interim bail by a city court on Wednesday. “We have learnt he is a trader and a resident of Belilious Road in Howrah,” an officer said. “We will talk to the bus conductor and record his statement.”