'Peepli Live' writer, co-director Mahmood Farooqui arrested on rape charges

Film director and writer Mahmood Farooqui has been arrested and sent to judicial custody for six days, after a United States national filed a complaint of rape against him.

According to reports, the alleged assault happened in March and the woman in question filed a complaint against Farooqui at the New Friends Colony police station in New Delhi earlier this week. 

"We filed an FIR on the complaint of the victim on June 19 and Mahmood was arrested the next day. The victim's statement was recorded and investigation is on," said a senior police officer.

The victim complained that she was raped by Mahmood at a rented accommodation in Sukhdev Vihar where she met him to have his help for her research work, said the officer, adding that the complainant was known to both Mahmood and his wife.

The accused had met the 30-year-old research scholar from Colombia University in Varanasi where she had gone to collect information about Baba Gorakhnath.

Farooqui was the scriptwriter and co-director along with his wife Anusha Rizvi for the 2010 film ‘Peepli Live’ produced by Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan.

With Agency Inputs