A woman from Jaipur has accused Rohit Joshi, the son of Rajasthan minister Mahesh Joshi, of rape, PTI reported on Sunday.
In her complaint filed on Sunday, the woman alleged that the Congress minister’s son raped her on numerous occasions between January 8, 2021, and April 17 this year. He allegedly deceived her by promising to marry her. He also allegedly photographed the woman without her consent in order to blackmail her.
The Delhi Police on Sunday registered a zero first information report against Rohit Joshi. A zero first information report can be filed from anywhere in the country.
Meanwhile, Mahesh Joshi said that people should refrain from speculating over the case against his son and allow the police to do their job.
“All I want to say is that I have spent all my life with truth and justice,” Joshi said, according to PTI. “As media reported that an FIR has been registered, police should investigate thoroughly and honestly. Be it this episode or any other case, I will always stand with truth and justice.”
The woman’s allegations
In her complaint, the 23-year-old woman said that she became friends with Joshi on Facebook after which he took her to Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan on January 8, 2021. During their first meeting, he allegedly spiked her drink and took obscene photographs and videos of her.
The next morning, when she woke up, he allegedly showed her the photographs and videos.
In another meeting in Delhi, the woman said that they spent time at a hotel, where he registered their names as husband and wife.
“He then promised to marry me... but then he got drunk and abused me... He would beat me up and make obscene videos of me,” she alleged. “He would threaten to upload them and make them viral.”
The woman also alleged that on August 11, she found out that she was pregnant and Joshi tried to force her to take an abortion pill.
In her complaint, she stated that she kept quiet because Joshi’s father is a minister, the Times of India reported. Mahesh Joshi is the minister for public health engineering in the Rajasthan Cabinet.
The FIR was registered under sections 376 (rape), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc. with intent to commit an offence), 312 (causing miscarriage), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her for marriage etc), 377 (unnatural offences), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, PTI reported.
“We have also informed the Rajasthan Police which will further investigate the matter,” an unidentified senior Delhi Police officer told PTI.
Mahesh Joshi said that he had been informed about the case, reported the Hindustan Times. “The law will take its own course,” he told the newspaper.
The woman purportedly filed an affidavit later stating that she had a no-strings-attached relationship with Joshi from last year, the Times of India reported.
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