Chhattisgarh Actor 'Raped' Relative For 13 Years on Pretext of Marriage, Arrested – News18

Chhattisgarh actor-director-producer Manoj Rajput was held for allegedly raping a close relative for the past 13 years after promising to marry her, a police official said on Saturday.

He was held from his office in the state’s Durg district on Friday on the complaint of the 29-year-old victim, the official said.

“On February 22, she lodged a complaint at the Old Bhilai railway police station about Rajput sexually exploiting her since 2011 on the pretext of marriage. After he reneged on his promise, she approached police,” Station House Officer (SHO) Rajkumar Borjha said.

Rajput was charged under Indian Penal Code sections for rape, unnatural sex, criminal intimidation and other offences as well as the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act since the victim was a minor when the alleged exploitation began, Borjha said.

A local court where Rajput was produced, however, quashed the provisions of POCSO Act citing the law did not exist in 2011 (when the exploitation allegedly started), he added.

Meanwhile, last year in August the Mumbai police arrested a 26-year-old “film editor and casting director” for assaulting an 18-year-old girl after she refused physical intimacy. The accused was reportedly arrested from Gujarat’s surat, where he fled presuming the victim died after the assault that left multiple fractures on her skull.

The accused, Deepak Malakar, a resident of Bihar, was arrested, three days after he fled from Mumbai after the August 11 incident.

After the assault, the victim lost consciousness. Believing she is dead, Malakar, who claims he is a film editor and casting director, ran away.

The teenager, however, later regained consciousness and reached for help, according to a report by Times of India. After a two-day stay in the ICU, the victim, a first-year college student, is now recuperating in hospital.

(with PTI inputs)