BOSTON, March 20, 2013—A Cambridge man was arraigned today after MBTA Transit Police worked with the woman he allegedly assaulted to identify him on a train they often rode together, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

BASHIR SHAIKH (D.O.B. 3/1/50) was charged today with indecent assault and battery for the incident at Downtown Crossing station last week. Assistant District Attorney Michael V. Glennon recommended that Shaikh be held on $1500 cash bail and be ordered to stay away from the victim and off of the Red Line. Boston Municipal Court Judge Thomas Horgan imposed $1000 bail, ordered Shaikh to stay away from the victim, and ordered him to stay off of the MBTA while his case is pending.

The victim, whose identity is being withheld pursuant to a protective order that Glennon also requested, reported to Transit Police that she had boarded an inbound Red Line train at Central station on the afternoon of March 13. She reported that she saw Shaikh, whom she did not know but whom she recognized as someone who was frequently rode the same afternoon train she did.

The woman told officers that she felt someone touching her thigh after she closed her eyes. When she looked up, she said, she saw that it was Shaikh, who allegedly told her he’d been reaching for something he’d dropped.

The woman closed her eyes again until the train reached Downtown Crossing. When she stood up to exit the train, she reported, Shaikh took her arm and said she seemed tired. As she made her way toward the Orange Line platform, Shaikh allegedly groped her forcefully before fleeing the station.

After speaking with the victim about her prior observations of her assailant on the Red Line, Transit Police detectives arranged to shadow her in an attempt to locate and identify the man. On March 18, they met up with the victim at Central station and, in plainclothes, boarded the same car that she did.

Within moments, the victim signaled that she saw the man later identified as Shaikh. He was staring and smiling at her. The detectives moved in and identified themselves as police and took Shaikh off the train. After the victim again identified him as the man who assaulted her, Transit Police took him into custody.

At about this time, Shaikh began breathing very rapidly and saying he had made “a mistake.” In an abundance of caution, Transit Police summoned medical assistance and Shaikh was transported to Boston Medical Center, where he was admitted for treatment.

Shaikh was represented today by attorney Chris Donahue. He will return to court on April 19.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.