Duo arrested for assaulting, molesting former corporator during campaign

Two men were arrested in Mumbai for allegedly assaulting and molesting a former corporator during a BJP campaign. The men deny the allegations.

MUMBAI: The police on Wednesday arrested two men for allegedly assaulting and molesting a former corporator of Malad East on Tuesday while she was doing rounds under the Bhartiya Janta Party’s (BJP) door-to-door campaign named “Ghar Ghar Chalo Abhiyan” on Tuesday.

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According to the police, the incident occurred at 7pm, when Sangeeta Gyanmurti Sharma, along with other BJP workers reached the house of accused Rajesh and Dharmendra Vishwakarma in Kurar village when the two men abused and assaulted her during the campaign.

Sharma claimed that the two men shouted at her saying, “How dare you come here,” and manhandled her. Sharma said that the men also told her that they would beat her up, breaking her limbs, if she dared to return to their locality.

Based on the complaint of Sharma, the Kurar police have arrested Rajesh and Dhamendra after booking them under sections 354 (molestation), 323 (assault), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

Although the police are investigating the case, the locals said that Sharma and her husband had made false allegations only to take revenge for the assault on Sharma’s husband a few days ago when locals had beaten him up during an SRA meeting on January 26.

According to the locals, when Sharma went to their house, Vishwakarma’s wife opened the door and assumed they were accomplices of a builder and asked them to leave. Hearing this, Sharma’s men abused her, after which Rajesh and Dharmendra got agitated and ordered her to leave. “Sharma had 25 men along with her. How could we have molested or manhandled her,” said Rajesh.