Shiney’s wife Anupam in Mumbai. (AFP)

Mumbai, June 17: Ringed by family and friends, actor Shiney Ahuja’s financial analyst wife today insisted that her husband, accused of raping his teenaged maid, had been “framed”.

Anupam Ahuja, an MBA who financially supported her husband while he chased his Bollywood dream, insisted that Shiney had been wrongly accused but refused to say why.

Clad in a light green salwar kameez, Anupam kept repeating at a news conference that Shiney was the victim of a “frame-up”, but refused to go into details as it could be seen as an “attempt to influence the case”.

“He is not capable of this. These are baseless allegations. I know him as a woman, a wife... as the mother of a daughter. He is innocent, this is a frame-up,” she said, claiming her husband was “100 per cent innocent… a man who neither smoked nor drank”.

But it was her parting comment that left all baffled.

Asked if rape laws favoured women or were biased against them, she said: “I am not a lawyer but I would say one thing: rape is an heinous crime… in today’s world, it can be committed by a man as well as a woman. I’m sure as laws evolve, this will be kept in mind.”

Anupam, who gave up a corporate job in New York after Shiney established himself, now runs an education business in India for which she often travels. The couple have a two-year-old daughter, Arshiya.

Anupam remained largely composed as the questions flew, some even touching on the couple’s marital intimacy.

“What proof do you need to show that he and I are together? I have known Shiney for 15 years, we are soulmates and he is a very good husband, a loving father and a caring son-in-law,” she said.

She showed the first flicker of agitation when asked about the results of the medical tests on the maid, which, the police claim, indicts Shiney as it proves sexual assault.

“All rubbish, utter rubbish… who has seen this medical report?” she asked.

Asked if she had met Shiney, she said: “No we’ve not been allowed to meet. But I’ve looked at him, and he’s looked at me and I know he’s innocent.”