The incident took place at around 7.30 AM, when the woman was walking in Colaba area of South Mumbai, said police, who are yet to decide which IPC Section is to be invoked in the matter.
According to the woman, the man indugled in vulgar act in front of her and ran away from the spot when she confronted him. The foreign national approached the police and narrated the harrowing incident.
"Based on a verbal complaint by the victim, the police have initiated a search for the accused. However, we are yet to record the statement of the complainant to know what exactly happened. We will get a clear picture only when we record her statement," said Vinay Gadgil, Senior Inspector of Colaba Police Station.
The incident came to public notice when the American woman tweeted about it, and her tweet soon went viral on social networking sites like Tweeter and Facebook.
The victim also mentioned about two men, who where passing-by and came to her help when she raised an alarm.
To get clues about the identity of the accused, police are going through a photo which the victim had managed to click, said Gadgil.