Mumbai Police on Monday, 17 June, said the woman who accused actor Karan Oberoi of rape has been arrested and accused of filing a false complaint against the actor. She’s also been accused of orchestrating an attack on herself shortly after the initial FIR was filed.
But the complainant has reportedly denied the claims and alleged that it is her own lawyer who has framed her.
The complainant had filed FIR against Karan Oberoi at Oshiwara Police Station in Mumbai under sections 376 (rape) and 384 (extortion) on 6 May. In it, she alleged that Oberoi had duped her under the pretext of marrying her and had 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 the case. Four people were arrested in connection to this attack, one of whom, upon investigation, was found to be related to her lawyer Ali Kashif Khan.
Oberoi was initially arrested and sent to police custody on 6 May. He was moved to 14-day judicial custody on 9 May even as his bail plea was pending with the sessions court. His lawyer, Dinesh Tiwari, contended that the FIR was false and that the complainant had staged the attack against herself in order to deny him bail.
On 7 June, Oberoi was granted bail by the Bombay High Court a month after his arrest. In a statement to The Quint, his lawyer Tiwari said that the High Court had said prima facie that it was not a case of rape.
“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 a 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,” he said.
Oberoi Has Been Wrongly Accused, Say Pooja Bedi & Former Bandmate Sherrin Varghese
Actor Pooja Bedi had come to Oberoi’s defence after he was accused in the case. His former bandmate Sherrin Varghese, who was part of Indie pop outfit Band of Boys, has also expressed support for him, saying that he has been wrongly accused. “The woman has been tampering with evidence and understand that she had timed her FIR in a clever manner,” he told The Quint.
According to him, Karan and the complainant had been on speaking terms since 2016. Varghese also mentioned that Karan had filed a non-cognizable offence (NC) against the woman in October last 2018, which had been resolved by the police.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)