Punjab Police deny Rakhi Sawant's arrest; actress has surrendered, claims spokesperson

Ludhiana: The Punjab Police on Tuesday denied the arrest of Rakhi Sawant following an arrest warrant issued by a court here. But a spokesperson for the TV and Bollywood actress said she has surrendered.

"Rakhi is with the police. She has surrendered," spokesperson Parul Chawla told IANS on telephone from Mumbai, claiming she had a Whatsapp conversation with the controversial actress.

Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner of Police Dharuman Nimbale said a police team which had gone to Mumbai to execute the arrest warrant against Rakhi was returning as they failed to find her at the given address.

He said the Ludhiana police will seek fresh directions from the court for further action.

Earlier on March 9, a local court in Ludhiana issued an arrest warrant against her for allegedly making inflammatory remarks against the sage, which has allegedly hurt religious sentiments of the Valmiki Community.

However, denying the charges against her, Rakhi told ANI yesterday, unlike Salman Khan, she is an innocent person, who believes in doing social work.

"I am not Salman Khan, I am Rakhi Sawant. You won`t get anything by putting charges on me. I am a simple girl who does social work and work in movies," she told ANI here, donning a fluorescent ` Being Human` t-shirt.

While speaking about the controversy created in the name of Valmiki, the 38-year-old actress said that she used the example of Valmiki`s change of soul to explain the change in her friend and singer Mika Singh, when he was accused in an assault case.

"I just gave an example from what I have read in my childhood. Just like Valmiki, who got changed from being a robber to a saint, Mika ji also has changed. It was just an example," she said.

During the conversation, she even seeked apology, if at all her words have hurt the sentiment of the Valmiki Community, "Through ANI, I want to apologise to all the Valmiki community brothers and sisters, if I have hurt their sentiment. But this wasn`t my intention."

(With inputs from agencies)