Ludhiana Commissioner of Police Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh on Tuesday denied reports claiming that Bollywood actor and television personality Rakhi Sawant had been arrested. However, Sawant’s spokesperson Parul Chawla said she had announced her surrender to the Punjab Police. She has been accused of making allegedly derogatory remarks against Valmiki, the author of Indian epic Ramayana.
“A non-bailable warrant had been issued by a Ludhiana court against Rakhi Sawant. A police team was in Mumbai [to execute the order],” Singh told ANI. The court had issued the arrest warrant after Sawant failed to appear before it on March 9. A team from Punjab Police was sent to Mumbai to arrest her, but it returned to Punjab after the officers did not find the actor at her house, Hindustan Times reported.
Valmiki supporters had staged demonstrations and filed a police complaint against Sawant for hurting their religious sentiments. Last year, when she had appeared on a TV show, she had compared Valmiki with singer Mika Singh. While giving an example of how people change, Sawant had claimed that Valmiki was once a murderer but later wrote the Ramayana. Sawant had accused Singh of molesting her in 2006.
She had later apologised for her remarks. “I want to apologise to the brothers and sisters of the Valmiki community if I hurt their sentiments. But it wasn’t my intention,” Sawant had said.
In November last year, an FIR was filed against her for wearing a dress with images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on it.
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