MUMBAI, JUNE 8: A popular television actor was arrested in Mumbai on Sunday for sexually assaulting a minor, the local police said.
The police said that the actor Pearl V Puri was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl in 2019.
The Vasai police said that a complaint was lodged by the minor’s father in 2019, but at that time, the identity of the accused was not established.
Now, after the alleged rapist's identity was established, the police produced the accused before a court that sent him to judicial custody for two weeks.
A police official said the identity of the accused had not been revealed when the investigation began.
“The victim identified the accused recently, and after recording her statement, the accused has been arrested. After the identification of the accused, we have taken him into custody for further investigation,” the official said.
The accused has been booked under Sections 376 AB (punishment for rape of woman under 12 years of age) of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 4 (punishment for penetrative sexual assault), section 8 (punishment for sexual assault), section 12 (punishment for sexual harassment), section 19 (reporting of offences) and section 21 (punishment for failure to report or record a case) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.