Ex-BJP MLA, Dismissed Constable Booked for Alleged Gangrape in Bhiwandi
FIR filed against former Kalyan West MLA Narendra Pawar and dismissed constable Shailesh Patil for allegedly gangraping a 22-year-old woman at a Bhiwandi farmhouse.
An FIR has been registered against former BJP MLA Narendra Pawar and a dismissed police constable, Shailesh Patil, for allegedly gangraping a 22-year-old woman at a farmhouse in Bhiwandi, police said on Thursday. Both men are yet to be arrested, and efforts are on to trace them, according to Inspector Pankaj Giri of the Padgha police station.
According to the woman's complaint, she was facing difficulties in her marriage when Pawar, the former legislator from Kalyan West, allegedly invited her to his office on the pretext of mediating. On September 13, Pawar and Patil are said to have taken her to a farmhouse at Bapgaon, where she was allegedly threatened with a firearm, forced to consume alcohol, and sexually assaulted. After Pawar left, Patil allegedly assaulted her again, the complaint states. An associate of the accused later escorted her home.
On September 16, the woman reached out to Congress corporator Kanchan Kulkarni through social media, shared her account and provided supporting evidence, including video footage and WhatsApp chats. Kulkarni said she found the account horrifying and, after reviewing the material, took the woman to the Padgha police station.
Following the intervention of Maharashtra Director General of Police Sadanand Date, Inspector Giri verified the details and registered the FIR against Pawar and Patil under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for alleged gangrape, brandishing weapons, and other offences.
Pawar, who headed the BJP's state Bhatke Vimukta Aghadi (Nomadic Tribes front), denied the allegations in a statement issued in the evening, calling them a "social and political conspiracy." He also shared a letter to Maharashtra BJP president Ravindra Chavan announcing his resignation from all party posts to protect the party's image.