Failing to apprehend 28-year-old Mumbai-based journalist Varun Hiremath, who was accused in a rape case a month ago, the Delhi Police has decided to announce a reward for his arrest, it is learnt. A file in this regard has been sent for clearance to the Delhi Police Headquarters.
Hiremath’s anticipatory bail application was earlier dismissed by a Delhi court and police have already issued a look out circular (LoC) against him.
Hiremath, an anchor with ET Now, has been on the run since February 23 when the FIR was registered against him under IPC sections 376 (punishment for offence of rape), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult modesty of a woman) at Chanakyapuri police station. Two teams have been sent to Mumbai and Gujarat to look for him and several raids at different locations have been conducted, police said.
Officials said his father owns a pharmaceutical company. According to sources, attempts to contact his immediate family have also yielded no results.
“After registering an FIR, we tried to call him for questioning after serving notice to him, but he switched off his phone and has been untraceable since. We also conducted raids at his friends’ residences. We have now decided to announce a reward of Rs 25,000 for information leading to his arrest and a file has been placed before senior officers,” police sources said.
After lodging an FIR against him, the woman reiterated her allegations in a statement recorded before a magistrate under CrPC Section 164 last week. The woman, in her complaint and statement before the magistrate, alleged she was raped by Hiremath at a five-star hotel in Chanakyapuri on February 20.
The FIR states that the woman and Hiremath met at a cafe in Khan Market, from where the accused asked her to come to his hotel room, where multiple incidents of rape, violence and sexual assault allegedly took place. While dismissing his anticipatory bail plea, the court had observed that consent cannot be implied from a victim’s previous sexual experiences with the accused.