Aditya Pancholi moves HC seeking to quash rape case lodged against him

Mumbai: Actor Aditya Pancholi has approached the Bombay High Court seeking to quash a 2019 case of allegedly raping a leading woman actor.

Pancholi in his petition said the FIR was lodged at suburban Versova police station in June 2019, but till date the police have neither filed a charge sheet nor submitted a closure report.

His advocate Abhinav Chandrachud on Tuesday argued before a division bench of Justices N M Jamdar and N R Borkar that not submitting a charge sheet indicates there has been no progress in the investigation.

Apart from seeking for the FIR to be quashed, Pancholi also sought a direction to police to inform him about the progress made in the probe into the case.

The high court after briefly hearing the matter issued a notice to the police and the woman complainant and posted the matter for further hearing on September 19.

The court directed the police to inform on the next date of hearing about the stage of investigation into the case.

Chandrachud argued that the case is pending since 2019 and hanging like a sword over Pancholi's head who is living under the stigma of being an accused in a rape case.

The woman had in her complaint alleged that Pancholi drugged and raped her when she was a newbie in Bollywood.

She alleged Pancholi had not only physically assaulted her, but also assaulted her sister.