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Eknath Khadse’s son-in-law unlikely to be arrested in voyeurism case
Khewalkar will continue to remain in judicial custody in connection with his earlier arrest linked to an alleged drug party held in Pune’s Kharadi area.
Pranjal Khewalkar, son-in-law of senior NCP (SP) leader and former Maharashtra minister Eknath Khadse, is unlikely to be arrested in a fresh voyeurism case filed on Friday, said a senior crime branch official monitoring the case. However, he will continue to remain in judicial custody in connection with his earlier arrest linked to an alleged drug party held in Pune’s Kharadi area on July 27.
In a fresh case, Khewalkar has been booked for allegedly filming and photographing a woman in a compromising position without her consent. The woman, whose identity has been withheld for privacy reasons, has accused him of capturing intimate content without permission, a serious violation of her privacy under relevant provisions of the IT Act.
“Under the provisions of sections invoked against Khewalkar, there is no provision of arrest,” said a senior officer monitoring the case.
Following the FIR registration, Rupali Chakankar, chairperson of the Maharashtra State Women’s Commission, commented on the widening scope of the investigation on Friday. “The new development could lead to unearthing a bigger sex scandal as a large number of objectionable videos and photographs have been recovered from Khewalkar’s mobile and laptop,” she said.
Chakankar claimed that Khewalkar lured migrant women to Pune under the pretext of offering them work opportunities and later exploited them. She said that during police investigations, multiple mobile phones were seized, including one from Khewalkar’s Hadapsar residence, which allegedly contained nude photographs and videos of women hidden in secure folders.
Chakankar further alleged that some of the women were drugged and then filmed in compromising situations. These videos, she said, were later used for blackmail. She claimed Khewalkar himself appears in some of the recovered videos. In some cases, women working as housemaids and sweepers were also reportedly targeted, she alleged.
A man identified as ‘Aarush’ allegedly played a key role in luring the women into the trap. The commission believes this points to a case of organised human trafficking.
Six others, identified as Sameer Sayyad, Nikhil Poptani, Sachin Bhombe, Shripad Yadav, Prachi Sharma, and Isha Sing, were arrested in an alleged drug party case. Officials claimed to have seized cocaine, hookahs, and liquor bottles from the premises.
Police commissioner Amitesh Kumar had earlier stated that a detailed report had been submitted to the women’s commission. The commission has demanded a thorough investigation into the allegations, including the possibility of links to trafficking and sexual exploitation in multiple locations including Lonavla, Jalgaon, Sakinaka, and Goa.
