Karan Oberoi On #MenToo Movement: "I Am Still Healing Emotionally"

Television actor Karan Oberoi who is constantly in news due to a false allegation by a woman astrologer recently opened up about the #MenToo movement. The actor who was framed for raping and strangling the woman has been relieved of all the charges now, given that she faked an attack scene and is now arrested by the police.

However, after the investigation, the police have found out that the attack was pre-planned and the two men admitted that they were paid Rs 10,000 for it.

For the unaware, the complaint had filed an FIR against the actor-singer for allegedly raping and extortion under the pretext of marrying her. The victim has also alleged that he had recorded a video on his mobile phone to blackmail her later. The duo had dated through an app in 2016.

"Through this video, he has been blackmailing me and making money. Even though I was asking him about marriage, he was ignoring every time and asking for money. A few days ago, when I insisted on marrying him, he threatened to 'do whatever you can'."

Karan Oberoi and his lawyer issued a statement claimed he is innocent and all complaints were false. “Allegations are false. We are taking the necessary steps to undo the damage that has been done and expose the person behind it."

Karan Oberoi recently walked out of the Taloja Jail after being accused of rape and extortion by a 34-year-old woman. The complainant has been arrested for staging an attack on herself to turn the case in her favor. The Jassi Jassi Koi Nahi actor was behind the bars for almost a month and in an interview with Spotboye.com, the actor recalled the horrific time he spent in the jail along with 92 inmates. He said, ''92 Qaidis in one cell sharing one toilet, which we had to wash".

In an earlier interview with TOI, Karan had said, ''I was put in a circular barrack on the first floor, occupied by 92 inmates. The gates of the barracks are kept open for a few hours in the morning so that you can walk around and stretch in the passage. You are not allowed to step out of the barrack and can’t even see sunlight. I spent my time reading books and writing one, too. In fact, I am in the process of finishing a book on my experience inside the jail.''

Talking about the entire incident that took place, Karan Oberoi told HT, “It has been very traumatic for me. It has taken a while for me to get back and I’m still healing [emotionally]. I could only survive the prison premises through meditation; I was not eating, sleeping, and there were criminals all around me. It breaks your psyche down. I lost 12 kgs,” he further added that it was only because of the support from his family and friends that he managed to survive that phase.

This incident made me think that there could be so many other lives that must have been ruined due to false cases. [After we started #mentoo] Young boys wrote to us and shared how they were blackmailed. Some admitted that they were contemplating ending their lives. Imagine the hell they went through,” he says. “So, it’s very important that the voiceless gets a platform to speak about what they are going through. Also, we want the law to be amended,” he added.

The actor who is currently free of all the charges is trying to get out of the mentally taxing incident by helping others. Recently, he even opened up about his relationship with Mona Singh and shared how she wasn’t ready for marriage.

Talking to SpotboyE, Karan said, “I wanted to be with her. She is a wonderful girl and a great artiste. We were too young and different as people. Mona is very social, always bubbly but at that time marriage was not something she was looking at. Her career was going great guns and she wanted to focus on that.”

On the work front, Karan Oberoi started his TV journey with Mahesh Bhatt's "Swabhimaan", where he played Bobby and went on to star in shows like Saaya and Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi. He was also a member of A Band of Boys, which was formed in 2001.