SINGAPORE - A 52-year-old man has been arrested for his involvement in two separate cases - one of attempted aggravated rape and one of robbery with hurt - on the same day.

On Sunday (March 12) at 12.50pm, a 37-year-old woman made a police report saying that a man she did not know had covered her face with a towel and pushed her into a hotel room along Orchard Road, the police said in a news release on Tuesday (March 14).

After a struggle, the man fled the room.

Police were investigating this case when they received a second report, at 5.53pm, from a 48-year-old woman about the same man.

He had allegedly entered a lift with her at a shopping outlet along Orchard Road, when he used a towel to cover her face and tried to grab her handbag. The woman struggled, but the man fled with her mobile phone.

After investigations, officers from the Tanglin Division, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Police Intelligence Department (PID) identified the suspect and arrested him within 24 hours of the first report.

The aggravated nature of the case "necessitated swift investigative actions from the onset, resulting in us cracking the case expeditiously", said Mr Sekher Warrier, the director CID (covering), senior assistant commissioner of police.