In his darkest hour when everybody is busy bashing Shiney Ahuja for his indecent act, his wife Anupam Ahuja has chosen to stand by her man.

‘My husband is innocent and all this is rubbish. I love my husband. He is a wonderful person, a great husband and a great father, very disciplined and a teetotaller. The reports that he has confessed are lies,'' said Anupam while reacting to the rape charges brought against him by his maid.

Anupam returned to Mumbai by a late-night flight from Delhi on Sunday after the actor was detained by the police. Anupam, who usually stays away from the media glare, added, ‘‘He's a man with a golden heart. We have a brilliant marriage. We had a love marriage and we are soul mates. I have read media reports about us living separately. That was rubbish.

"It has always been my decision to keep away from the limelight. Today, I am standing in the media glare simply because I am proud to be his wife. I know he would not indulge in any act that I would ever be ashamed of. The entire family stands by him."

The Shiney-Anupam marriage has been described in the media as long-distance and rocky the charge she dienies vehemently.

"We have a brilliant marriage. We had a love marriage and we are soul mates. I have read media reports about us living separately. That was rubbish. It has always been my decision to keep away from the limelight," she says.

"We both came to Mumbai from Noida, where he was a model, while I worked in a corporate firm. We lived in a single bedroom apartment and saved every penny to buy our dream house.

In 2003, he got his first Hindi film Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. The film took two years to release. The same year, I received an offer from a firm in New York. Shiney was the one who insisted I accept. I returned in 2005.

Today, I am standing in the media glare simply because I am proud to be his wife. I know he would not indulge in any act that I would ever be ashamed of."

But contrary to Anupam's conviction, Shiney's lewd act seems more like a well-planned one and not the crime of passion.

The 18-year-old, who had been working at Ahuja's sixth floor apartment at Oshiwara's Tarapore Towers for the last one- and-a-half months, has alleged that on Saturday Ahuja had behaved inappropriately. According to Oshiwara police, the girl thought a stern warning would end the matter.

So, the next day she reported to work at her usual time of 9 am. Around 3 pm Ahuja - alone at home, as his wife and daughter had gone to Delhi a week ago - asked the girl, a Virar resident, bring him water. He was in his bedroom at the time.

Ahuja then drew the curtains and put the music system on high volume, the girl said. He then allegedly forced himself on her. After the act, Ahuja allegedly threatened the girl with dire consequences if she squealed. She said that she was allowed to go only by 5 pm, her scheduled time to leave.

The girl rushed to one of her relatives and narrated the incident to him. At around 8 pm, the relative took the girl to the Oshiwara police station where a case of rape, wrongful confinement and threatening was lodged against Ahuja.

When Oshiwara police called Ahuja for questioning, he threw his starry tantrums.

"He was throwing his weight around as if police was harassing him unnecessarily. When the senior officer asked him directly if he had raped the girl or not, he said, ‘such things keep happening'," said an officer.

On Sunday police took the girl for a medical examination which confirmed rape.

A forensics expert said, "The physical examination of the victim does not show any recent injury marks (nail or teeth) on the girl's body.

We have collected the vaginal swab and only the chemical analyser report would be conclusive in ascertaining sexual assault."

Medical experts also revealed that there are injuries to the girl's private parts, which indicate that she may have been forced into having intercourse. A doctor said there was a tear in her hymen, indicating fresh intercourse. She is likely to be given a urine test at a later stage to check if she is pregnant.

The girl's blood samples have also been sent to the lab as authorities want to determine if she was focibly made to consume any drugs or alcohol. A medical exam on Ahuja did not reveal any injuries on his body, an official said. A glans wash and blood samples have been sent to the forensic laboratory for chemical analysis, sources said. Police want to determine if Ahuja was inebriated at the time of the alleged incident.

A day after he was accused of rape by his maidservant, Ahuja has been pleading with the cops and asking them for ways in which he can fight the case, said police sources.

"Even when he was taken for the medical test Shiney was crying and asking for a way out," said one source.

According to the sources, after being picked up by the police Ahuja had initially denied the allegations, but he eventually broke down and confessed to his crime.

"He came down on his knees and pleaded with the officer to forgive him. Shiney has been crying like a kid since the arrest. He said he would seek forgiveness from the maid," said the source.

Shiney has also expressed a desire for home-cooked food and requested that he be allowed to meet his friends and relatives.