Bollywood actor Shiney Ahuja was on Wednesday sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment by a fast track sessions court here for raping his maid despite the victim turning hostile during the trial.
While convicting the accused, judge P.M. Chouhan relied mainly upon the fir in the case, Shiney's lawyer Srikant Shivade told reporters who were not allowed in the court as the trial was held in-camera.
The court has also not accepted the maid's evidence in the court that she was not raped as the judge felt that she had given false evidence.
Clad in pink shirt and jeans, 38-year-old Shiney was accompanied by his wife Anupam in the court when the judgement was delivered.
According to a policeman, there were tears in his eyes when the judge pronounced the order.
In September last year, the maid had backtracked from her allegations that Shiney had raped her at his residence in Mumbai and said the incident had never occurred.
The 20-year-old girl told the court that she had filed the complaint against the actor at the behest of the woman who had secured her the job of a maid in Shiney's residence.
Earlier, in June 2009, the girl had lodged a police complaint alleging that she was raped by the actor at his residence. Shiney was arrested on June 14 and released on bail three months later.
On September 3, 2010, the victim had identified Shiney in the court and said she used to work at his residence as a domestic help. But when asked about the incident, she said she was never raped.
Following this, the court had declared her hostile.
The police, in a 109-page chargesheet, had charged Shiney with rape and wrongfully confining the victim.
Shiney, in his defence, had argued that he was falsely implicated.