The police have stated in their probe report filed before a magistrate court on Monday that the allegations of molestation made by a social media influencer against cricketer Prithvi Shaw are untrue. The influencer’s advocate Kaashif Khan Deshmukh had earlier approached the court for directions to the local police to register an FIR based on her allegations in a written complaint. The court had then called the police for a report.
Where did the incident stem from?
The complaint of the influencer came as a counter to an incident where the influencer and her friends were accused of attacking the cricketer and his friends outside a hotel in Santacruz in February. Their scuffle had begun when the cricketer had refused the influencer’s friend’s attempt to take a video. The influencer and her three friends had been arrested and later secured bail in the incident.
The Airport Road police station stated in its report that no evidence was found of an act of molestation. This was based on CCTV footage as well as inquiry with eyewitnesses—staffers and bouncers of the pub, as well as CISF personnel present for bandobast duty in the area outside. The report concluded that the police found no evidence of misbehavior.
CCTV Footage presents strong evidence:
A bouncer of the pub, for instance, had told the police that the influencer and her friend were drinking a lot and the friend lost temper and started abusing when Shaw told him not to take the video. The bouncer further said that the influencer and her friend had to be escorted out of the pub and he had heard the influencer say “dekh ab main uski kya halat karti hu” (see, what I do to him now). The police also stated that CCTV footage of a tower of the CISF shows the influencer chasing the cricketer’s car with a baseball bat.
As many as seven witnesses the police inquired with have stated either that they did not see any act of molestation or that they have not seen any assault on part of the cricketer or his friends on the influencer.
