The Pokhara High Court has upheld the Tanahun District Court’s decision to send actor Paul Shah (Purna Bikram Shah) to judicial custody on a rape charge.

A division bench of Pokhara High Court judges Ujjwal Shukla and Shreedhara Kumari Pudasaini on Thursday upheld the Tanahun District Court’s decision to send Shah to judicial custody for investigation.

The 32-year-old actor, who has remained in Tanahun District jail following the district court’s decision, had appealed at Pokhara High Court on Tuesday challenging the lower court’s decision.

Tanahun District Court judge Harish Chandra Dhungana had on March 24 issued the order to send Shah to judicial custody for investigation.

Shah was taken in custody by the District Police Office, Tanahun on February 27 after a 17-year-old singer filed a complaint accusing him of raping her. The victim also filed another case at the Area Police Office in Gaindakot, Nawalparasi, against Shah.

The singer, a minor as per Nepal’s law, has accused Shah of raping her with a false promise of marriage. She filed the case in Tanahun days after a controversy arose, with reports surfacing on various online news outlets.

Meanwhile, the girl had changed her statement at the Tanahun District Court on April 17 during a closed hearing.

While recording her statement at the court, in the presence of her father, the girl said that she had not been raped as claimed earlier by her and that the earlier complaints were false. The minor had also said that she had lodged the complaint after being provoked by some people.