New Delhi: A 23-year-old woman has alleged that Rohit Joshi son of INC MP Mahesh Joshi raped her on multiple occasions for over a year after which the Delhi Police registered a zero FIR, officials said on Sunday. A zero FIR is one that can be registered from anywhere in the country. The Rajasthan police have been intimated by Delhi Police about the FIR and the investigation is underway, according to a PTI report. She alleged in her FIR that on their first meeting, he spiked her drink and took advantage of it. When she woke up the next morning, he showed her naked photographs and videos which worried her.
According to the report, the case was registered on May 8 at a police station in North District 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 marriage, etc), 377 (unnatural offences) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, the police said.
"On the basis of a complaint of rape by a woman, zero FIR has been registered at Sadar Bazaar Police station. The woman has alleged that a man raped her on the pretext of marriage. FIR to be transferred to Rajasthan for investigation," said Delhi Police according to ANI.
In the FIR the woman said that between January 8, 2021, and April 17, 2022, Rohit Joshi raped her on several occasions and even promised to marry her.
The woman said that the two met on Facebook last year and developed a friendship after which they have been in contact and he raped her in many instances.
Mentioning an incident in the FIR she said, Rohit Joshi met her in Delhi and forced himself upon her.
"Rohit made me stay at a hotel where he got our names registered 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. He would threaten to upload them and make them viral...," the woman alleged, PTI reported.
He told me that he is getting a divorce from his wife and that he would marry me. On many occasions, he thrashed me badly and forced me to dance. It was a huge trauma," the victim has stated in the FIR.
In her complaint, she stated that on August 11, 2021, she found out she got pregnant with Rohit’s child and alleged that he forced her to take a pill but she didn’t. She said that she remained quiet for over an year as she was scared of his position of being the minister's son but later filed a complaint in April.
The police have also come to know about an affidavit that the accused and the victim signed which states that the two had physical relations with consent.
Mahesh Joshi, the Minister for Public Health Engineering, could not be reached over the phone for his reaction, reported PTI.