New Delhi: TV news anchor Viren Hiremath, previously associated with ET Now, joined the investigation into a rape case filed against him on Sunday after absconding for almost 47 days. As The Wire had reported before, Sunday was also the day when the Delhi high court granted him interim protection from arrest.
According to the Indian Express, Hiremath was questioned for close to seven hours on Sunday, after appearing at the Chanakyapuri police station around 11 am. He had reportedly been hiding in a Goa apartment since February 23.
DCP (New Delhi district) Eish Singhal told the Indian Express, “He has joined investigation as per high court orders.”
“He was asked about his whereabouts and the exact sequence of events when the incident took place. He told the police that he got scared after he came to know that an FIR of rape was registered against him,” an officer told the newspaper. His phone has been seized and is being examined.
On Sunday, the Delhi high court had said Hiremath was being granted interim protection from arrest provided he joins the investigation. The court said it would take up the matter again on April 16 and had not set a timeframe for Hiremath to reveal his whereabouts.
The 22-year-old complaint had written a letter to the authorities on the same day, saying she was anguished at the lack of interest the authorities appear to be showing in apprehending the accused journalist.
Delhi Police has charged Hiremath with Sections 376 (punishment of offence of rape), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code on February 23 when the FIR was filed after the woman’s complaint.
On March 30, the 22-year-old woman had written a letter to the Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde, bringing his attention to the additional sessions judge’s “insensitive, inappropriate and traumatising” behaviour during an anticipatory bail hearing in the case. Her letter was officially received by the CJI’s office and she had been assured of an internal inquiry into her complaint.
Also read: Rape Complainant ‘Laughed at’ By Sessions Judge During Hearing, Writes to CJI Bobde
The additional sessions judge at the fast track courts in Patiala House had rejected Hiremath’s anticipatory bail on March 12 and said that the previous relationship of the parties was of no relevance in view of Sections 53A and 114A of the Indian Evidence Act.
“Considering the nature of (the) accusation made against the accused, evidence collected by the IO against him and the facts and circumstances, the gravity of offence and discussion made herein above, I am not inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the accused,” the order said.
The Bombay high court had also rejected anchor Varun Hiremath’s anticipatory bail application on March 1.
The anchor, in his anticipatory bail application, had claimed that he has been “falsely implicated” in the case. The woman and Hiremath had engaged in consensual sexual activity, the application said. It claimed that the 22-year-old’s “interest” in the accused became “clear” because she came from Pune to meet him in Delhi and went into the double occupancy room “willingly after giving her identity documents to the hotel management”.
The woman, in her complaint and statement before the magistrate had alleged rape at a five-star hotel in Chanakyapuri on February 20. She has said that her identity documents were shared with the hotel as part of their COVID-19 protocol and cannot conceivably be considered as consent.