What you should know about Kangana Ranaut bodyguard rape allegations: Mumbai Police registered a rape case at the city's DN Nagar Police Station against a bodyguard under Sections 376 and 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on Friday. The accused was booked for raping a city-based beautician. This case came to light when on May 19 a 30-year-old woman alleged that the accused had raped her on pretext of marriage. Some news reports have suggested that the accused works as a personal bodyguard for actor Kangana Ranaut.
Here are ten things to know about the case:
1. According to a report by the Times of India the accused bodyguard is Kumar Hegde, actor Kangana Ranaut's personal bodyguard, although police have refused to ascertain the information and his identity.
2. Reports have been doing rounds that Hegde promised to marry the victim in June last year. After proposing her to marry him, the accused also suggested a live-in relationship to which the woman agreed as she was hoping to get married to him.
3. The survivor alleged in her statement that she and the accused have known each other for eight years. Last June, she accepted Hegde's proposal for marriage, she claimed in her statement. However, she further added that she refused to have a physical relationship but he forced her into it.
4. She also alleged that on April 27 the accused borrowed a sum of 50,000 rupees from her saying that his mother was unwell and he had to leave for his hometown and since that time he has been unreachable.
5. According to her, the accused left for his native place in Karnataka. The New Indian Express reported that the survivor tried to reach him but he stopped taking her phone calls and a few days ago, the beautician got a phone call from a woman who claimed to be the accused’s mother. She was told that her son can not marry her as they both are from different faiths. However, when the woman later got to know that her fiancé is planning to marry another woman at his native place on June 5, she approached the police in Mumbai, the official said.
6. Several websites have referred to the accused as "Kangana Ranaut's personal bodyguard". The actor's office, however, is yet to respond on the matter.
7. The accused is charged under Section 376 pertains to rape while Section 377 pertains to unnatural sex. "Prima facie, they had a live-in relationship and a break-up," Senior Police Inspector Bharat Gaikwad of DN Nagar Police Station told IANS.
Mumbai | A case under Sec 376 (rape charges) & 420 (cheating) of IPC registered against bodyguard of a famous Bollywood actress at DN Nagar PS in Andheri. He is yet to be arrested. Complainant alleged that he promised marriage to her & took Rs 50,000: DN Nagar Police (21.05)
— ANI (@ANI) May 22, 2021
8. When asked to confirm reports identifying Hegde as Ranaut's personal staff, Gaikwad said that police are not aware of what work he does.
9. Reportedly, Hegde has also been charged under Section 420, which pertains to cheating, and added that all the cases against him were registered after medical examination and the statement of the victim late on Wednesday night.
10. The accused is yet to be arrested, the official claimed.