Delhi police searching for rape accused ET Now anchor in Mumbai, Gujarat

The Delhi police has sent teams to Mumbai and Gujarat to search for ET Now anchor and analyst Varun Hiremath, who has been named in a rape complaint filed by a 22-year-old woman in Delhi’s Chanakyapuri police station.

Eish Singhal, Delhi’s deputy commissioner of police, confirmed to Newslaundry that the teams had been sent, and said: “The complaint has been registered and investigation is underway.”

Hiremath, 28, is the anchor of the daily show “Markets with ET Now”. According to the FIR filed on February 23, he has been charged under penal sections punishing rape, wrongful confinement, and word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.

On Monday, the Bombay High Court heard and then rejected Hiremath's anticipatory bail application. Advocate Karma Vivan, appearing for Hiremath, refused to comment on the matter. Hiremath’s phone has been switched off since the registration of the complaint.

The complainant’s lawyer Jai Dehadrai told Newslaundry that a high court bench of Justice PD Naik rejected Hiremath’s transit anticipatory bail.

Dehadrai told Newslaundry that the complainant underwent a medical examination and recorded her statement before a magistrate on February 24. In her complaint, the woman alleged that she had known Hiremath for three years, since she was a college student in Pune. She alleged that the rape took place at a hotel in Delhi’s Chanakyapuri.

She asked for a prompt investigation in her complaint, stating that Hiremath “hails from an extremely powerful family, and, therefore, has resources to tamper with evidence, before the investigation has begun".

Newslaundry contacted ET Now’s human resource representative for comment but the call was disconnected.

Manish Wadkar, the legal head of the Times Network, told Newslaundry: "The matter is under investigation and we don’t know what is happening in that. We have not laid him off."

When asked if Hiremath is still officially an employee of the company, Wadkar said, "Yes. But he is not coming to office."