Man jumps to death following molestation claims

A middle-aged man jumped out of the window of a stationmaster's room in Habikino, Osaka, Prefecture, and was later pronounced dead Tuesday amid suspicions that he had molested a female high school student, police said.

The man in his mid-40s was taken to the stationmaster's room at Kintetsu Corp.'s Furuichi Station on suspicion he had touched the 16-year-old student on her hip on an express train, they said.

He jumped out of the window around 9:45 p.m. and fell about 9 meters onto a passage way, the police said, adding he was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

According to investigations, a station worker returned to the statiomaster's room after making an emergency call to the police and found the man sitting on the window sash. When the worker said, ''Look out,'' the man abruptly jumped out of the window.