Model held hostage in Bhopal says agreed to marriage under threat
Bhopal, July 14: A woman who had been taken hostage by her stalker at gunpoint on Saturday said she agreed to marry the man as she was scared for her life and wanted the culprit to be hanged.
"Rohit alias Regal Singh threatened my life... He came to my house around 6 am and pushed me inside my room at gun point... He attacked and injured me... I had no option but to agree to marry him... But I do not want to marry him...," the woman said in her statement in front of a magistrate last night.
A 12-hour hostage drama ended this evening when the city police rescued a model who was held captive after holding talks with her jilter lover who held her captive in an apartment here, demanding that she marry him.
The 26-year-old woman was rushed to the hospital around 7 pm as she had suffered minor injuries, police said.
Police negotiators used a hydraulic ladder to talk through a window to Rohit Singh, who held the woman hostage in her fifth-floor apartment in the building in Misrod area.
TV
channels
telecast
the
dramatic
events
live
all
day.
Singh
too
was
injured
when
he
held
out
a
gun
from
an
open
door
and
a
policeman
tried
to
snatch
it,
officers
said,
adding
that
he
too
was
taken
to
hospital.
"Both
did
not
sustain
fatal
injuries,"
City
(North)
Superintendent
of
Police
Rahul
Lodha
told
reporters.
The
woman
sustained
minor
injuries
to
her
neck
and
hand,
he
said.
"We convinced Singh (to let her go) saying we would not harm him and would help him in accordance with the law," the SP said, without elaborating further.
"The operation took long. We held a series of conversations with him over video calls to ensure that the woman remained safe," the SP said.
"We
succeeded
(around
7
pm)
finally
when
we
had
a
face-to-face
talk
with
him
through
the
window
(with
police
negotiators
perched
atop
a
hydraulic
ladder),"
he
said.
Throughout
the
day
police
kept
up
the
supply
of
food,
glucose
and
water
to
Singh
to
ensure
that
the
woman
and
he
himself
stayed
in
good
health.
The
episode
began
when
Singh,
who
claims
to
be
an
aspiring
model,
knocked
on
the
woman's
door
around
7
am.
She
opened
the
door
and
the
two
had
an
altercation,
police
said.
He took her to a room at gunpoint and bolted it from inside, said Inspector Sanjeev Chouse of Misrod police station.
Then he sent a video to a TV journalist through his mobile phone, saying the police and the woman's family were opposed to their marriage so he was holding her hostage.
He shared another video sometime later, showing the woman lying on bed with bloodstains all around the room.
Soon, police and the media reached the spot, and police began persuading him to free the woman.
Singh, who hails from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, kept speaking to both the media persons and police by video calls, saying he wanted to marry the woman, and he would kill himself if they did not get married.
Singh and the woman had met in Mumbai around two years ago when she was pursuing her modelling career, and he fell in love with her while she apparently had no feelings for him, the police said.
After he allegedly started harassing her, her family had lodged a complaint against him in January, they said, adding that further details would come out during his questioning.