Rajasthan man accused of raping French woman arrested from his Chittorgarh house
As he was being taken away by the police, 28-year-old Pushpraj Ojha alias Siddharth insisted that he was being framed in the rape case
UDAIPUR: A 28-year-old man accused of raping a French woman in Udaipur was arrested on Wednesday from his house in Chittorgarh over 100km away, police said.
Police said the accused, Pushpraj Ojha alias Siddharth, runs a casting company that was associated with the shooting of an advertisement on June 22 at various locations in Udaipur. The 30-year-old rape survivor was in Udaipur for the same shoot.
According to the first information report (FIR) registered on the woman’s complaint, she arrived in Udaipur on June 22 and was at a cafe with her friends on June 23 (Monday evening) when Ojha allegedly approached her. They stepped out for a smoke and later went for a drive. But instead of dropping her at the hotel, he took her home where he allegedly raped her. According to the FIR, the accused dropped her off at the hotel at 6am on Tuesday.
Udaipur superintendent of police (SP) Yogesh Goyal said the accused fled Udaipur on Tuesday morning after he allegedly raped the woman on Monday night.
“Prima facie, the victim had been working for several Indian brands as a background dancer and actor for a long time. She came to Udaipur on Sunday to shoot for a leading electronics brand. Siddharth was part of the same crew,” he added.
As he was being taken away by the police, Ojha insisted that he was being framed. “I didn’t rape her… It’s a conspiracy that has been hatched against me by some industry people as I am an outsider. I was going to surrender only when the police picked me up today,” he said.
Badgaon police station house officer (SHO) Pooran Singh said the FIR was registered under Section 64 (1) (rape) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) on the woman’s complaint after she reached the hotel. “She told her two friends about the incident. As she fell sick, they rushed her to a private hospital in the city and approached the police who filed a complaint based on the woman’s primary statement,” Singh said.
