Shweta Mahajan denies Rahul assaulted her

Rahul Mahajan and wife Shweta Singh on Monday denied a newspaper report that their three-month-old marriage was on the verge of ending.

Shweta, a commercial pilot, also denied that Rahul, son of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, had assaulted her.

"I fell off a bicycle," Shweta explained for the bruise on her arm. "There is a joke in the family that I can fly but cannot ride a bicycle," Shweta said at her parents' home in Dehradun.

"I was trying to ride the bicycle when I fell." She added that Rahul was helping her ride the bicycle.

Shweta said that she had come to Dehradun to plan a family get-together this weekend. "It is absurd to suggest that I have come here to escape Rahul," she said.

"I have been with Shweta for the past few weeks and can vouch that Rahul never abused her," Shweta's mother said.

Shweta's sister Shubh, who lives in Gurgaon, also insisted that whatever conspired between the two was a trivial matter.

On Monday morning, the Mahajans woke up to a report published in the tabloid alleging that Rahul had been verbally and physically abusing Shweta.

In Mumbai, Rahul claimed the photograph accompanying the report was doctored. "Neither of us was spoken to before this story was printed," he said. "How can a third party make such allegations?"

He said on Shweta's return from Dehradun, they would discuss the matter and contemplate action.

(With inputs from Sanjeev K Ahuja in Gurgaon)