Three held in Pune for seeking sexual favours from Delhi model

Pune, Mar 28: Three persons were arrested today for allegedly molesting and torturing a Delhi-based model after she refused sexual favours sought by them for launching her in films earlier this month, police said.

The 24-year-old model had lodged a complaint against the trio in Kotla Mubarakpur police station in Delhi on March 23. The case was then transferred here as the alleged incident had taken place in jurisdiction of the local police.

"We arrested Rohit Bhandari (35), Harish Shaha (25) and Tapendra Sahi (23) under relevant sections of IPC whereas one more suspect, Ramesh Thakula is currently at large," said police. According to police, Bhandari had befriended the complainant through social networking site and promised to offer her good roles in films.

The duo had even met in Goa. "Bhandari then called her to Pune on March 10, saying that she had to appear for an audition and introduced her to other three suspects," said a police officer who is investigating the case.

He said they took good care of the woman for first two days. "However, after that they allegedly sought sexual favours from the model by promising good role in films.

However, when the complainant refused, she was molested, stripped and given cigarette burns," the officer said.

The complainant managed to go back to Delhi and lodged a case with Kotla Mubarakpur police station on March 23 who in turn registered "Zero FIR" (which allows woman to file an FIR at any police station and the complaint is required to be registered by police on the basis of her plaint verbatim.) The trio will will be produced in court tomorrow.

PTI