Bhojpuri actor, influencer arrested for rape and assault of 28-year-old woman

“He has been arrested and is now being questioned,” Assistant Commissioner of Police Abhishek Shrivastav said.

Police said Meraj, who had been residing in Bihar, was arrested from Patna’s Gardanibagh area on October 4. He was then brought to Ghaziabad on transit demand.

In her complaint, the woman has alleged that Mani Meraj alias Ramdi Miraj Alam had befriended her under a false identity and exploited her for around three years.

“At first… Meraj spiked my soft drink that rendered me unconscious, and then he raped me. When I regained consciousness and protested, he begged for forgiveness and promised to marry me,” she said in her statement to the police.

She alleged that under pressure and fear of social stigma, she agreed to marry him. “Later, he took me to his home and secretly married me, while instructing me not to tell anymore about the marriage,” she said in the statement.

The woman also alleged that while Meraj repeatedly sexually assaulted her and subjected her to unnatural acts, his family pressured her to convert to Islam and beat her up when she refused.

Further, she accused Meraj of forcing her to consume beef, administering her abortion pills, and repeatedly physically assaulting her. “He took all my hard-earned money,” she said in the statement.

The woman claimed that she later discovered Meraj had illicit relationships with several other women and already had two children. When she confronted him, Meraj’s family allegedly threatened to kill her.

Meraj has been booked on charges of rape, unnatural offenses, and criminal intimidation of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

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