Peepli Live co-director Mahmood Farooqui arrested for raping US student, wife says allegations baseless

Peepli Live co-director Mahmood Farooqui was arrested on Saturday by Delhi Police on charges of rape. Farooqui has been accused of raping a 35-year-old American national three months ago. The police registered an FIR charging Farooqui with rape (section 376 IPC) at the New Friends’ Colony police station in New Delhi on 19 June and Farooqui was arrested from his home on Saturday night. A report in The Times of India said the co-director of Peepli Live has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days. “The accused Mahmood Farooqui has been arrested and was presented before Saket court. The court has sent him into judicial custody till 6 July,” an official was quoted as saying by the IANS. [caption id=“attachment_2305764” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “] Mahmood Farooqui with wife Anusha Rizvi. AFP[/caption] Farooqui is married to director and screenwriter Anusha Rizvi, who directed the 2010 satirical comedy Peepli Live. A big name in social and literary circles, Farooqui was the writer and co-director of the film produced by Aamir Khan. A research scholar from Columbia University, the woman is a PhD student in Hindi studies and was in India for field work. According to The Indian Express, the incident happened on 26 March this year. Farooqui had invited the woman to his Sukhdev Vihar home after which he allegedly sexually assaulted her. The woman has also accused Farooqui of exchanging emails with her following the incident.   Farooqui denied sending any mails to the woman. The Delhi police have sent the communication produced by the complainant for forensic analysis. Farooqui’s wife Anusha has claimed in a statement that the complaint was “manipulated, false and belated.” “The complaint is manipulated and false. We don’t want to make any further comments on the matter because the case is under investigation. We will wait for the court’s decision where the actual truth of the matter will come out. In the meanwhile we are thankful for the show of support from friends, colleagues and well-wishers. We are determined to fight this till the reality is presented before the people. We are very sure of it,” she said