Aditya Pancholi granted anticipatory bail till July 19 in rape case

Actor-producer Aditya Pancholi has been granted interim relief till July 19 by the Dindoshi Sessions Court, in a rape case filed against him by a top Bollywood actress. Aditya's lawyer Prashant Patil confirmed the same and said, "The court has accepted our application of anticipatory bail and same has been granted."

Prashant Patil argued that the woman had lied in her complaint. Her date of birth was different in her complaint and in her passport, and such discrepancies show "her intention to lie", the lawyer said. The woman waited for 15 years after the alleged crime, and filed the complaint only when Pancholi got a favourable order from a magistrate's court in a defamation case he has filed against her, advocate Patil argued.

Judge HB Gaikwad adjourned the hearing to July 19 and granted Pancholi interim relief. If he is arrested during this period, he must be released on an interim bail until further orders on executing a personal bond of Rs 30,000, the judge said.

The court arrived at this decision on the basis of the made by Pancholi. In his application, Pancholi stated that the allegations have been made purely with the intention to defame him.The victim had filed the case against Pancholi on June 27 at the Versova Police Station in Mumbai, following which an FIR was filed under sections 376, 328, 384, 341, 342, 323, 506 of the Indian Penal Code.

According to the complainant, the 54-year-old actor sexually assaulted her between 2004 and 2009. Aditya, however, denied all the allegations saying, ''It is a false rape case that they were planning and now they have done it. I was anticipating this. This was pre-planned as I had filed a defamation case against them. It is not a small allegation, the law will take its course, I will fight out... the truth will come out.”