MUMBAI: Two days after his arrest, Bhojpuri film actor Manoj Pandey's wife too has been held on the charge of assisting him in allegedly raping a 27-year-old singer-actress on the pretext of marrying her, the police said today.
The actor's 20-year-old wife was arrested from her residence in suburban Kandivali yesterday. The couple had also allegedly cheated the victim of Rs 10.80 lakh, a senior police official at Charkop police station said.
According to the official, after the victim approached the police on September 15 with the complaint of rape against Pandey (27), the actor's wife had allegedly threatened her of dire consequences if she doesn't "stay away" from her husband.
Pandey was arrested on the night of September 21 from Kalyan in Thane district, where he was shooting for a film.
The woman, who said she was in a live-in relationship with Pandey (27), alleged that he had forced her to undergo an abortion in 2015 when she was two months pregnant, the police had said.
According to the woman's complaint, she met Pandey at a party in 2012 where he promised her a role in a movie starring him. She stated that they moved into a rented apartment in suburban Kandivali and she was bearing the accommodation expenses, the police had said.
Both the accused have been booked under Sections 376 (punishment for rape), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 317 (exposure and abandonment of child under 12 years), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and other relevant sections of the IPC.
Further investigation into the matter is underway, the official said.