Mumbai: A local court today (July 28, 2004) deferred its hearing on renowned film maker Madhur Bhandarkar's anticipatory bail plea till tomorrow as the argument remained incomplete today.

The complainant in the case, a model, is expected to record her statement before the court tomorrow.

The model earlier had alleged that the director had sexually molested her 16 times in the last five years on the pretext of giving her role in his film and had even promised to marry her but he later backed out.

Bhandarkar, denying the charges of rape and criminal intimidation, submitted that the victim was trying to use arm-twisting tactics to get a role in his film.

Bhandarkar is charged under section 376 IPC (rape), section 493 IPC (cohabitation caused by a man deceitfully inducing a belief of lawful marriage), section 506 (2) IPC (criminal intimidation) and 509 IPC (act intended to outrage the modesty of a woman).