'Farooqui's wife asked me to step in'

NEW DELHI: A trial court was informed on Wednesday that filmmaker Mahmood Farooqui's wife had contacted a common friend to persuade the American woman to not press rape charges against her husband.
M Danish Husain (44), a common friend of Farooqui and the US national, claimed before additional sessions judge Sanjiv Jain that he was contacted by Anusha Rizvi on the intervening night of June 19-20.Danish, who deposed as a secution witness, told the prosecution witness, told the court that Rizvi had asked him to get in touch with the woman and intervene so that she did not press rape charges against Farooqui. Referring to his call detail record, Husain said late that night he had received text messages on his phone from an associate of Farooqui who made him talk to Rizvi.
However, Farooqui's counsel objected to Husain's statement and said it was an “afterthought“ and the court should not take it on record.