Udaipur rape case: Casting firm owner held from Chittorgarh for raping French woman

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Police on Wednesday claimed to have arrested the man accused of raping a French woman in Rajasthan’s Udaipur, The Indian News Express reported.

The accused, Siddharth Ojha, 30, who was on the run since the incident on June 22, was arrested in Chittorgarh. According to The Indian Express, the accused, who is originally from Chittorgarh, ran a talent acquisition agency called ‘Casting Call’ in Udaipur and has also been involved in some Bollywood projects, the police said.

The rape survivor, police said, had been living in Delhi for some time and had been involved in several modelling projects. She was in Udaipur for an ad shoot, the report added.

“Siddharth met the French woman on the night of the crime, when some crew members had gone to a cafe. He somehow cajoled her to go on a long drive. From there, he forcibly took her to his rented house and raped her, according to the woman’s complaint. We have arrested the accused and will produce him in court on Thursday,” Udaipur Superintendent Yogesh Goyal was quoted by The Indian Express.

The suspect cast bit-part actors in Bollywood movies such as Salman Khan’s ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’ (2015) and Akshay Kumar’s ‘Khel-Khel Mein’ (2024).

As per the report, the survivor was admitted to a private hospital and is stated to be stable. In her complaint, based on which the FIR was registered on June 24, she alleged: “I arrived in Udaipur by bus from Delhi. I was there for leisure. At night, my friends and I went for dinner. A bit later in the evening, a man came to our table. He proposed we go outside for a smoke, and then took me on a drive."

She goes on to allege: “I requested him several times to go home (to my hotel), but instead he drove me to his apartment. There, he started to ask me for a hug, which I refused. My phone was off. I asked several times to recharge my phone, but he didn’t give me a cable, so I couldn’t find the address of my hotel. Then he hugged me and started to touch me, while I was saying ‘no’ clearly… I started to cry, and he raped me. I was crying all along. When he was done, I begged him to take me home. He started by saying no, but eventually he drove me back around 6 am.”