Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who was booked for allegedly assaulting a young woman in his housing society, today claimed the incident was "pre-planned" and could have been a publicity stunt.
An FIR was registered against the actor earlier this month under IPC section 354 following a dispute over a parking slot in their housing society in suburban Andheri.
"It was an unfortunate incident. It has happened first time in my life. I know how to respect a woman. It was a planned incident. After seeing the video one will get to know that it (incident) was planned," Nawazuddin told reporters here at a press conference.
The actor said he could not address the issue earlier as he was busy shooting. "I just want to clear things. Police is investigating the matter," the "Manjhi" actor said.
The incident occurred on January 17 when an argument broke out between the actor and the woman over the car parking space, and during the exchange of words, Siddiqui is alleged to have slapped the woman.
The housing society had earlier asked the 41-year-old actor through a notice to avoid parking his car at a spot reserved for two-wheelers.
Siddiqui said he did not know the complainant as she is not the resident of the society and that he came to know about the FIR against him only through twitter.
"I was provoked. I don't know that girl. Even I want to know who that girl is. She doesn't stay in the society. In the beginning of the video one can hear someone saying zoom it," he said when asked about the incident.
"I was very far (when video was shot on mobile) but still I felt it was pre-planned. May be this was done for a publicity stunt. The notice (apparently issued by society) that was being shown on television was not signed. I did not receive any such notice," he said.
Published 29 January 2016, 11:33 IST