Gehana Vasisth porn racket case: Accused now face rape, sodomy charges

Actor Gehana Vasisth is accused of using her production company for the porn racket. Pic/Suresh Karkera

A 22-year-old model from Virar has accused three people, already arrested for allegedly being a part of a porn racket involving actor Gehana Vasisth, of sexually assaulting her at Lonavla. On her complaint, the Arnala police have added charges including rape and sodomy against the trio - Santosh, Rowa Khan and Shakespeare. The case has now been handed over to the Lonavla Gramin police.

The three men are also being probed by the Mumbai police for shooting sexually explicit videos of newcomers through Miss Asia bikini winner Gehana's production house under the pretext of giving them roles in web series.

In the latest case, the model told the police that she had come across an advertisement for a photo shoot and got in touch with Santosh in December 2020. "At that time, Santosh told her he will contact her if there is any opportunity," an officer from Lonavla Gramin police told mid-day.

According to a copy of the FIR accessed by mid-day, the model said Santosh reverted on January 1. He allegedly assured her that she would get R40,000, but he would keep R10,000 for himself as commission. Santosh later informed her that the shoot would be done at Lonavla.

The model told the police that the photo shoot was done at a bungalow in Lonavla on January 4. Later, producer Rowa Khan and Santosh said that she would have to do photo and video shoots for a web series and the visuals would be uploaded on an application. They allegedly didn't disclose the name of the app.

When she refused to go for the web series shooting, Khan and Santosh allegedly threatened her. "Khan and Santosh forcefully pulled off my clothes and one person named Shakespeare raped and sodomised me. The entire act was video-recorded in the presence of Santosh and Khan," the model alleged in her complaint.

The Lonavla Gramin police officer said the trio is already in jail in Mumbai. "Once their custody is over, we will seek the custody of Khan and the co-accused involved in the racket," said the officer, adding that they have also booked the three under the IT Act.

The property cell of Mumbai crime branch busted the pornography racket with the arrest of Khan and four others on February 5. They were allegedly using foreign IP addresses to upload sex videos on HotHit app. Later, the police arrested Gehana Vasisth on the charge of using her production house for the racket and getting raunchy visuals uploaded on escapenow.tv.

The police also arrested the actor's aide Umesh Kamat, who is accused of sending x-rated videos to Kernin Limited in the UK and would coordinate with Pradeep Bakshi, believed to be a director of the firm.

The Lonavla Gramin police told mid-day that there is no CCTV camera at the alleged crime spot. "We are in touch with the Mumbai police. We have called in the model for investigation but she is yet to visit here [Lonavla]," added the officer.