THANE: A sessions court in Bhiwandi on Monday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of former BJP MLA Narendra Pawar for gang-raping a 22-year-old married woman, holding that his custodial interrogation was necessary to recover a pistol, vehicle and mobile phone allegedly linked to the crime, besides obtaining CCTV footage from the farmhouse where the incident allegedly took place.
Pawar and dismissed police constable Shailesh Patil are accused of taking turns to rape the woman at Patil’s farmhouse in Padgha, located in a secluded area along National Highway 3 between Bhiwandi and Kalyan, on September 13. Both remain untraceable, while Thane Rural Police have formed teams to locate them. Pawar’s lawyer moved the court seeking pre-arrest bail on his behalf.
The bail hearing saw the defence and prosecution present sharply different accounts of the events.
Pawar’s lawyers claimed that the woman had been in a consensual sexual relationship with him and alleged that the rape case was filed after attempts to negotiate a monetary settlement failed. They also cited the three-day delay in filing the complaint and her visit to Pawar’s residence for Ganpati darshan the day after the alleged incident, arguing that these circumstances raised questions about the allegations.
The prosecution and the woman rejected the claims. She told the court that she had never approached Pawar or his associates for a settlement and said she was in a state of physical and mental shock following the incident, which prevented her from immediately approaching the police. She said she later gathered the courage to file the complaint with the help of local Congress leader Kanchan Kulkarni, group leader of the party in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation.
{{/usCountry}}The prosecution and the woman rejected the claims. She told the court that she had never approached Pawar or his associates for a settlement and said she was in a state of physical and mental shock following the incident, which prevented her from immediately approaching the police. She said she later gathered the courage to file the complaint with the help of local Congress leader Kanchan Kulkarni, group leader of the party in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation.
{{/usCountry}}According to the woman’s statement, Pawar had offered to mediate in a matrimonial dispute and called her to meet him. She alleged that he took her from Tilak Chowk in Kalyan to the farmhouse, where she was forced to consume wine before being raped.
Additional sessions Judge NK Karande noted that the investigation had identified material evidence, including a video stored on the woman’s mobile phone. The court observed that the material before it indicated Pawar’s involvement and that, given the seriousness of the offence and the need for custodial interrogation and recovery of evidence, he was not entitled to pre-arrest protection.
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