Casting Director Allegedly Breaks Teen’s Skull For Rejecting Advances

Mumbai police have arrested a 26-year-old film editor and casting director for allegedly assaulting an 18-year-old girl after she refused his sexual advances. The accused was arrested in Surat, Gujarat, where he fled, presuming that the girl died after the assault that left her with multiple fractures in her skull.

The accused is identified as Deepak Malakar, hailing from Bihar. He was taken into police custody on Monday, three days after he ran away from Mumbai after the incident happened on August 11.

Casting Director Assaults Girl In Mumbai

The girl had lost consciousness after the brutal assault, but the accused presumed that she had died and ran away to Surat. The girl regained consciousness later and reached out for help, as per the Times of India report.

The first-year college student is now recuperating in a hospital after spending two days in the intensive care unit.

The girl had allegedly befriended the accused on Facebook last year. Two months ago, the accused approached the girl's parents with a marriage proposal. Her parents had agreed to it and let him stay in their one-bedroom apartment.

During this period, the accused had tried to be physically intimate with the survivor, but she had refused, saying that she wanted to complete her studies and try her luck in Bollywood before marrying him.

This angered the accused, who took the survivor to a friend’s flat in Versova on August 11 and tried to initiate a sexual relationship with her.

As per the TOI report, a police officer said that when the survivor resisted the accused’s attempt to sexually assault her, he banged her head against the wall and punched her face several times until she collapsed. Presuming she was dead, he locked the flat from outside and fled to the city.

An hour later, the survivor regained consciousness and reached out for help. Hearing her screams, the neighbours rescued her and informed the police.

It is reported that the accused confessed to the police that he wanted to kill the survivor because she rejected his sexual advances.

The police officer said that although the accused had switched off his phone, he was communicating with his friends via local booths and from the phones of strangers in Surat. He had withdrawn some money from the ATM, which helped the police track down his location on Monday and arrest him.

The accused has been booked under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 342 (wrongful confinement), 354 (outrage modesty) and 354 D (stalking) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

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