Leading Bollywood actress (I am sure you can guess it) provides details to the police about how Aditya Pancholi sexually assaulted her over the years.
Bollywood today may seem a bit safer for women today (after the #MeeToo movement) but a couple of decades back things were very different with a few of them literally calling the shots in the industry (connection with the underworld and political parties also made them much more powerful).
A leading actress has now provided a detailed statement to the Versova police where she has provided details about how Aditya Pancholi assaulted her over the years.
“That year, I met Aditya Pancholi, who was then 38 years old, almost 22 years older than me. I used to stay at a hostel with group of girls while he was married and had two children; his daughter was my age then,” she wrote.
“In 2004, I went to a party with him. Sometime after having a drink, I started feeling dizzy. I suspected then that he [Pancholi] had spiked my drink. After the party got over, Pancholi said he will drop me home. So I went with him in his Range Rover car. He stopped it in the middle of Yari Road and started getting forcefully physical with me. He also took photographs, which I wasn’t aware of.
“When we met the next time, he said we now share a relationship like the one between a husband and wife and we will live that way. I told him he was my father’s age and I want to marry someone who is as old as me. Then, he showed me all the photographs he’d taken of me inside his car and started blackmailing me. He threatened to show these pictures to others. At the time, I was quite young, I had no one in Mumbai and he took advantage of that,” she added.
The actress said that between 2004-2006, Pancholi kept her at different locations and tried to establish a forceful relationship with her by spiking her drinks all the time. “He used to take my photos to blackmail and threaten me. Once, I was going to file a complaint against him, but he stopped my autorickshaw and beat me up; I was rescued by a pedestrian who saw me getting thrashed. At the time, I met and informed senior police officer Bipin Bihari about the incident.”
She stated, “Between 2004 to 2005, I shifted to Pallavi Apartment with my aunt. Pancholi would come to that flat all the time with his friends and get forcefully physical with me. Every time, he would carry some medicine to spike my drinks. I used to feel dizzy after having them. He locked me in whenever he left my apartment. He would also assault me. He would give me drugs and click my photos; at the time, he used to get MDMA and ecstasy.”
Pancholi also broke into the actor’s Versova apartment, she alleged. “Fed up with him, in 2006-2007, I bought a flat in Versova and started living alone. Pancholi came there, made duplicate keys and trespassed into my house and assaulted me. He started breaking everything inside my house and screamed in a completely drunken state. He took all of my keys and left after locking me inside.”
She said Pancholi also thrashed her sister. “Between 2008 and 2009, I shifted to Bandra. My sister, who was unwell then, came to my house and we were living together. When I was away at a shoot, he came to my house and beat up my sister. When I returned home, I saw my sister was shivering and completely scared. I asked her what happened and she told me about how Pancholi had beaten her up. Then, I called him up to ask why he was troubling us, to which he started demanding money from me, saying that [I should pay] whatever he has spent on me. He asked for Rs 1 crore. In fact, I paid Rs 50 lakh and he stopped troubling us for a bit.”
After the actress attained stardom, she said Pancholi started demanding money by blackmailing her with the photographs he had taken. “Once I got famous and people began recognising me, Pancholi once again started demanding money by blackmailing me with the photographs. I have the threatening messages he sent to my sister and brother. Pancholi kept threatening to send the photos to my friends, family and relatives to destroy my career.”
The Versova Police registered an FIR against Pancholi under sections 376 (rape), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc. with intent to commit an offence), 384 (extortion), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
However, Pancholi denied all the allegations and submitted video footage of her lawyer apparently talking about the rape case that would be filed if Pancholi didn’t withdraw the defamation complaint against the actress. In 2017, Aditya and his wife had filed four criminal defamation cases against the actress and her sister for defaming them on national TV.
As per the latest reports, a rape case has been filed against Bollywood actor Aditya Pancholi at Versova Police station. The case was filed under sections 376, 328, 384, 341, 342, 323, 506 of IPC.
