Reality TV Star Arrested for Allegedly Threatening Neighbors

A beloved reality TV star who formerly appeared on the fan-favorite Indian reality game show Bigg Boss has been arrested. Payal Rohatgi, who appeared on the 2008 season of the show, was arrested by the Ahmedabad city police on Friday, June 25 after she allegedly threatened her neighbors in her housing society.

According to a First Information Report (FIR) registered against Rohatgi on Thursday, June 24 and obtained by the Hindustan Times, the Bollywood actress harassed and threatened residents of Sundarvan Epitome Apartments in Satellite area, where she had been living with her parents for the past year. The complaint was lodged by society chairman Dr. Parag Shah. According to the FIR, Rohatgi harassed society members during an annual general meeting, used derogatory language against the society’s chairman and other residents, and even threatened children in the community, telling them that she would “break your legs.” The complaint alleges that during the general meeting, Rohatgi “threatened to kill” Shah. Rohatgi also began “recording video on her mobile phone to threaten the society members and after they objected, she started abusing them as well.”

“Then she posted indecent and extreme message in the society’s WhatsApp group. She has been posting indecent comments against society residents on her Instagram handle since March as she had recently commented against few society members who are having 5-6 children that they don’t know about family planning,” Shah continued in the complaint, according to The Indian Express. “She had also posted about me stating that I am a ruffian. She had also threatened society’s kids saying that if they play in front of her house, she will break their heads. She keeps threatening society members saying that she will get them framed in false police cases.”

Rohatgi was taken into police custody on June 25 and booked in an FIR at Satellite police station under IPC sections 294 b for obscenity, 506 for criminal intimidation, 504 for intentional insult and sections of the information technology (IT) Amendment Act. Premsukh Delu, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 7, Ahmedabad Police confirmed, “Rohatgi has been arrested as per the charges booked against her in the FIR. She will be presented before the magistrate shortly.”

At this time, it does not appear as though she has addressed the arrest. The arrest comes after the actress was arrested in 2019 after she allegedly posted “objectionable content” to social media against the Nehru-Gandhi family. She was later released on bail, and addressing her arrest in an interview, said she was “politically victimized.”