Thane, Sep 17 (PTI) An FIR has been registered against former BJP MLA Narendra Pawar and a dismissed police constable in the district for allegedly gangraping a 22-year-old woman after holding her captive at gunpoint, police said on Thursday.
Pawar, former Kalyan West legislator, termed the allegations as false and politically motivated, and announced that he was resigning from his party posts.
The other accused was identified as Shailesh Patil. Both are yet to be arrested.
As per the woman’s complaint, she was held at gunpoint at a farmhouse at Bapgaon in Bhiwandi, where she was forced to consume alcohol and then sexually assaulted.
“The woman was facing some trouble in her marriage. Pawar allegedly invited her to his office by offering to mediate. On September 13, Pawar and Patil took her to the Bapgaon farmhouse, allegedly threatened her with a firearm, coerced her to drink alcohol, and sexually assaulted her,” the official said.
After Pawar left, Patil allegedly sexually assaulted her again. Later, an associate of the accused escorted her back to her residence.
The woman approached Congress corporator Kanchan Kulkarni through social media on September 16, disclosed the ordeal and shared supporting evidence including video footage and WhatsApp chats.
“Hearing her account was horrifying. After reviewing the video and chat evidence, we immediately took her to the Padgha police station,” said Kulkarni.
Following intervention by Maharashtra Director General of Police Sadanand Date, Padgha police station’s senior inspector Pankaj Giri verified the details and registered a First Information Report against Pawar and Patil under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for alleged gangrape, brandishing weapons and other offences, the official said.
Efforts were on to trace the accused, inspector Giri said.
Narendra Pawar, who headed the BJP’s state Bhatke Vimukta Aghadi (Nomadic Tribes front), issued a statement in the evening denying the allegations.
He also shared his letter to Maharashtra BJP president Ravindra Chavan which stated that he was resigning from all his posts to protect the party’s image.
The allegations against him were a “social and political conspiracy”, Pawar said. PTI COR BNM KRK
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.