Mumbai: The sessions court set aside the order passed by the Metropolitan Magistrate's court, which had declared the arrest of film producer-director Gunwant Jain, also known as Nikesh Madhani, illegal due to a delay of four minutes in communicating the grounds of arrest to the accused.

The sessions court upheld Jain's arrest as legal and granted permission to the Versova police to not only arrest him but also to hold him in custody for five days.

Jain was arrested by the Versova police on November 21 for allegedly raping a 38-year-actress. He was produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate court the next day, where police sought his remand for custodial interrogation.

The magistrate court rejected the plea and ordered for Jain's release, holding that his arrest was illegal. The Magistrate court had claimed that the accused, and his family members were not informed about the grounds of arrest. The Versova police had approached the sessions court against the order.

Observing that the charges against Jain is serious, the court said, “it is alleged that the accused repeatedly subjected the victim to sexual assault under the pretext of false assurance of marriage and administered a sedative substance before committing the offence extending life threat to her. The allegations against the accused involve serious offences.”