Rape-Accused Actor Karan Oberoi Granted Bail by Bombay High Court

Karan Oberoi was arrested on 6 May.

Actor Karan Oberoi.

Actor Karan Oberoi, who was arrested on allegations of rape and blackmailing, has been granted bail by the Bombay High Court on Friday. Granting a Rs 50,000 bail to Oberoi, Justice Revati Mohite-Dere came down heavily on the victim and police in the matter, said his lawyer Dinesh Tiwari.

The bail has been granted after a month since Karan’s arrest on 6 May.

Here’s what Karan Oberoi’s lawyer told The Quint:

“We are very happy with the decision. Finally the justice has been served. High court has made strict observations about the quality of the investigation and against the conduct of the complainant. The High Court has said prima facie it is not the case of rape and the WhatsApp communication placed on record which is admitted by the advocate for the complainant does not indicate that it is the case of of rape, filming and extortion.

“The HC also said that the mobile phone of the complainant should be seized for the investigation. Also that the complainant was obsessed with Karan and there is no material on record to indicate demand of any gift from Karan. Further that false FIR has been recently registered by complainant where she spoke about assault on her,” the lawyer added.

In May, a woman filed an FIR against Oberoi at Oshiwara Police Station in Mumbai under sections 376 (rape) and 384 (extortion).

It alleged that Oberoi duped her under the pretext of marrying her and that he raped her, filmed the act and threatened to release the video unless she paid him the money he demanded.

On 25 May, she claimed to have been attacked by unknown miscreants who pressured her to withdraw that case. Four people were arrested in connection to the attack, one of whom was found to be related to Ali Kashif Khan upon investigation.

Karan was initially arrested and sent to police custody. After which, he was moved to 14-day judicial custody even as his bail plea was pending with the sessions court.

In the bail plea, Tiwari contended that the FIR was false, his client (Oberoi) never promised to marry the victim, and the victim lodged another FIR by staging an attack to deny him bail.

Actor Pooja Bedi has come to Karan Oberoi’s defence. She labelled the case as “#MenToo”.

Sherrin Varghese, who was part of Indi pop outfit Band of Boys with Oberoi, too has come out in support of his former bandmate. In a statement to The Quint, he alleged that Oberoi has been wrongly accused. “The woman has been tampering with evidence and understand that she had timed her FIR in a clever manner,” he said.

According to him, Karan and the complainant had been on talking terms since 2016. Varghese also told The Quint that Karan had filed an NC against the woman in October last year, which was resolved by the police.

(With inputs from IANS)