Filmmaker Shakeel Noorani Arrested From Mahabaleshwar Farmhouse After Month-Long Manhunt Over Alleged Rape & Blackmail Case

Mumbai: The Malvani police have arrested 73- year-old director Shakeel Noorani following a monthlong manhunt in a case registered 40 days ago on the complaint of a 33- year-old aspiring actress, who alleged that he abused her over four years. However, his lawyer, Vikas Singh Goar, claimed that Noorani had been falsely implicated and declined further comment pending the judicial process. He was produced before a local court and remanded in police custody until August 12.

The police tracked Noorani to his farmhouse in the Medha locality of Mahabaleshwar in Satara district. According to officials, he had been evading arrest since the complaint was registered. Initial searches at his son’s residence in Lokhandwala, Andheri, yielded no result, after which technical surveillance led investigators to the farmhouse.

With assistance from the Medha police, who initially took Noorani into custody, a Mumbai Police team travelled to the location and formally arrested him before bringing him to Mumbai on August 8.

Noorani was booked on July 10 under Sections 64(2)(M) for rape, 351(2) for criminal intimidation, 123 for causing hurt by poison and 88 for causing miscarriage under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

In her FIR, the complainant alleged that Noorani called her to his Malvani residence on the pretext of discussing a film script and spiked her beverage before sexually assaulting her. She further alleged that she subsequently suffered a miscarriage after being given poison.

The woman has also accused Noorani of recording the alleged assault and using the video to blackmail her into repeated sexual assaults and forcing her to consume contraceptive pills over several years. The alleged incidents reportedly occurred between 2016 and 2026.

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