Woman deposes against Farooqui

NEW DELHI: The American woman who was allegedly raped by Bollywood filmmaker Mahmood Farooqui on Monday supported the prosecution’s case and told a trial court that Farooqui was the culprit.
Deposing as a prosecution witness, the woman stood by her complaint and told additional sessions judge Sanjiv Jain that Farooqui “betrayed her trust”, sources said.The woman’s statement, which remained inconclusive on Monday, was recorded by the court in an in-camera proceeding.
Recording of her statement would continue on Tuesday. Another American woman, who is the survivor’s friend and a key prosecution witness, would record her statement on Tuesday.
On September 2, the court had framed charge under section 376 (rape) of the IPC against Farooqui but dropped the charge under section 201 (destruction of evidence). Police had on June 29 filed a chargesheet against Farooqui alleging that he had raped the 30-year-old research scholar from Columbia University at his house in south Delhi’s Sukhdev Vihar on March 28 this year.
Police had also annexed medical reports of the woman and statements of over a dozen witnesses, including a common friend. The copies of the emails, the woman had sent to Farooqui and his replies apologizing to her after the assault were also attached to the chargesheet as evidence.
Farooqui has been in judicial custody since his arrest on June 20 and his bail plea is pending.