The police commissioner of the southern Indian city of Bangalore has said there is no evidence to prove allegations of mass molestation took place on New Year’s Eve in the centre of the city.
Praveen Sood told a news channel that police officers had reviewed footage from almost 70 CCTV cameras.
On Wednesday police said they had detained six people.
But Mr Sood said the detentions were in connection with an incident in a different part of the city.
He said police had responded to footage brought to their attention by a member of the public who said a woman had been attacked by two men on a motorbike near his home.
“We had a look at it. We saw it was quite a clear case of serious molestation. We didn’t wait, we didn’t even bother with whom the victim is. We didn’t ask her, we wanted to protect her identity. We have registered a criminal case,” he said.
But, Mr Sood said, the alleged “sex attacks” in the centre of Bangalore never took place. The incidents allegedly occurred as a crowd of 10,000 people gathered there to see in the New Year on Saturday evening.
He said the footage being used by the media to make allegations of mass molestation was actually that of the melee that had resulted from a baton charge by police who were trying to disperse the crowds.
“People ran, there were a lot of girls there. There was panic, there was a melee, they got separated, they were crying… so that 30 seconds of confusion is being projected as a mass molestation. I categorically say that nothing of that sort has happened,” he said.
Several women have described being surrounded by mobs of men and being groped.
Mr Sood added that despite a public appeal, no one had come forward to record a complaint of molestation or harassment.
He said, however, that he had seen some women telling the media that they were touched inappropriately and that the police were ready to treat those statements as complaints and begin an investigation.