Rohit Bal, the Indian fashion industry’s glamour boy who was arrested yesterday in Delhi along with his driver and cook for allegedly threatening and beating up a neighbour in the capital’s affluent Defence Colony over a parking space argument, is now “begging for another chance” and saying he has already “apologised many times over” for what happened.
Bal was reportedly in a highly inebriated state when the ruckus took place at 3 am. In an exclusive video with Peeping Moon.com., the designer appears disheveled and distraught and not his forever flamboyant self. Stepping out of his car after being released by the police on bail, Bal is seen joining his hands in a desperate and impassioned plea while asking the media person taking the video to spare him from further torment.
Bal, whose signature style is his use of Indian craftsmanship in his designs, is among a clutch of designers responsible for making fashion mainstream and a rage in India. His high-rolling, hard-partying image made him immediately popular on the fashion scene which he burst upon in the Nineties.
Of those wild days, Bal has said, “I went through life doing what I wanted, not caring what it meant to anyone else. As long as it made me happy, I did it. We used to go out, drink and party. It was all about clubs, late nights and no restrictions. There weren’t any deadlines or curfews back then – places were open till 6 am. We’d party for days. The early Nineties were incredible because we were grown up enough to have the means to enjoy ourselves, but not famous enough to be concerned.”
But his rollicking lifestyle has apparently come back to bite the designer in the butt now. Bal was arrested along with his staff after Delhi Police got a call at 3.22 am about an altercation over a parking space in Defence Colony’s C Block. The tony residential area was built in the 1960s and meant for ex-defence officers. It today houses around 20 fine dining restaurants and swanky coffee shops besides high-end department stores. The police said Bal was allegedly in an inebriated state at the time of the incident.
“We got a call from the complainant Iqbal Singh who alleged that Bal and some others forcibly entered his house and created a ruckus. Bal was arrested on charges of illegal trespassing, causing nuisance under influence of liquor and threatening,” said DCP Ishwar Singh of Delhi Police (South). “A case has been registered under sections 427, 451, 510, 506, 34. Further investigation is on.”
Apparently Bal is no stranger to public brawls. In 2008, he was involved in another infamous brawl that involved his former boyfriend Inder Baweja and current boyfriend Lalit Tehlan. It happened at a Fashion Week party and spiraled out of control and went into the public when the drunk models started attacking passers by and members of the media.
Now his manager claimed the Defence Colony row with his neighbour is over and Bal, who is 61 and not in the best of heath, is resting from his order at the police station the nigh before. In the video, Bal is seen imploring the media with joined hands and saying, “Sir, please, please... bahut ho gaya, I have not done anything, I am not such a bad person. How much do you want me to apologise? Will you torture me for the rest of my life for one mistake? Please tell them (perhaps he means the police or complainant, his neighbour Iqbal Singh) to give me one more chance. Whatever lesson Rohitji had to learn from this incident, he has already learned. Please, please tell them to spare me from further torment...”
Watch the video here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGOWS8j_kak