2 more women allege rape by writer

After the complaints filed by three women earlier this week, two more women, on Wednesday, alleged rape by Marathi writer and social activist Laxman Mane.

After the complaints filed by three women earlier this week, two more women, on Wednesday, alleged rape by Marathi writer and social activist Laxman Mane.

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The Satara police have sent three teams to look for Mane. The family of Mane, a winner of the Sahitya Academy Award and a Padma awardee, has refuted all the charges.

Three women, who worked with the Sharadbai Pawar Aashramshala, have accused Mane of raping them from 2003 to 2010, by threatening them with salary loss, sacking and transfer. The two women, who worked in Satara earlier, claimed that they were transferred to Kolhapur when they allegedly resisted him.

The complaint lodged by one of the women said that Mane demanded physical relations in exchange for a job at his institute. The woman joined his institute — Bharatiya Bhatke Vimukta Jati-Jamati Vikas Sanshodhan Kendra that runs an ashramshala — in June 2008. The woman complained that Mane first made sexual advances and later threatened to sack her. The other woman, too, filed a similar complaint.

The police have also registered an offence against one of Mane’s women colleagues for allegedly helping him. The colleague, too, has been untraceable since Sunday. Sources said that Mane might try to get an anticipatory bail.