A hearing was held on Thursday in the Bombay High Court in the rape case registered against Bollywood actor Aditya Pancholi. Pancholi has approached the court seeking quashing of the FIR lodged against him. The High Court has fixed February 24 as the next date of hearing on this petition.
During the hearing, the police informed the court that 11 notices have so far been sent to the complainant actress, but she has not appeared to cooperate with the investigation. The court then directed the police to issue a notice once again and to ensure the presence of the complainant on the next date of hearing.
Aditya Pancholi's advocate, Prashant Patil, told ANI, "Today, a quashing petition was filed before the Bombay High Court on behalf of my client, Aditya Pancholi. In 2019, an FIR was registered at Versova Police Station against him in a rape case. We filed this petition to point out how the FIR is false, how its foundation is flawed, and that the entire basis of the case is malicious and motivated. All the evidence that was in Aditya Pancholi’s custody has been handed over to the police..."
The case against Aditya Pancholi was registered in 2019 at Versova Police Station in Mumbai. In the FIR, the actress alleged that during the early phase of her career in the film industry, Pancholi allegedly administered an intoxicating substance to her and raped her. According to the complaint, between 2004 and 2006, the accused blackmailed her into maintaining forced relations and subjected her to physical exploitation.
Meanwhile, Pancholi’s lawyer rejected all the allegations outright in court, calling them baseless and stating that the case is false and the FIR should therefore be quashed.
The next hearing in the matter will now take place on February 24.
Also read: Aditya Pancholi's conviction upheld in 2005 parking assault case by Mumbai sessions court
