Senior IPS officer Sunil Paraskar, who has been accused of rape by a city-based model, today filed an anticipatory bail application before the sessions court here which granted him interim protection from arrest till July 31. "Paraskar has sought pre-arrest bail and has been granted interim protection from arrest till July 31 (when his application is likely to be heard)," public prosecutor Nileema Kasture said. She also said that the police will be filing their reply on the next date.

Paraskar's lawyer Rizwan Merchant told the judge Vrushali Joshi that the complainant had been once booked by the police under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA) on the charge of running an escort service. "This complaint was filed to avenge the registration of case," advocate Merchant argued. The complainant, in the past, had sent friend requests to Paraskar on many social networking sites, he alleged. He claimed that the "vexatious" complaint was also filed because once she had asked Paraskar to file a case against another model and Paraskar refused. "Morale of the police force will be shaken (if Paraskar was arrested) and tomorrow nobody would investigate the cases," the lawyer argued.