Man accused of rape, blackmailing Mumbai model held in Bihar

Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], June 15 : Ranchi police have arrested a man in Bihar who was wanted in the alleged rape and blackmailing of a Mumbai-based model case.

Tanveer Khan, a resident of Ranchi, was arrested from Bihar's Araria district on Wednesday - two weeks after a model based in Mumbai accused him of raping and blackmailing her, the police said.

The police will now bring him to Ranchi following all the procedures, they added.

A case under sections 376(2)(N), 328, 506, 504, 323 of the IPC and section 67 of the IT Act was registered against the accused, Tanveer Akhtar Mohd Lake Khan, at Mumbai's Versova police station in the last week of May, following a complaint by the model.

The case was later transferred to Ranchi Police as the alleged incident had taken place there.

The victim in her complaint to the Mumbai police alleged that she is a native of Bhagalpur in Bihar and came to Ranchi in connection with a modelling workshop where she came in contact with the accused who has repeatedly raped her since 2021 and threatened and blackmailed her. She said the accused had also threatened her with dire consequences if she informed anyone.

However, the accused Tanveer Akhtar had earlier refuted the allegations against him and accused the woman of circulating his "obscene" images and "blackmailing" her.

"The allegations against me are completely false. She (the complainant) worked at my agency. After my business went into loss due to her, I asked for compensation. She started blackmailing me. She circulated my obscene photos among my friends and relatives. She also took the help of her friends and boyfriend. She wanted to steal my data...she managed the data here so she had access to it," he said in a self-made video.