NCP to decide Maharashtra Minister Dhananjay Munde's fate over rape allegations

NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday said that the allegations or rape and sexual exploitation against Maharashtra social justice minister and a senior leader of the party Dhananjay Munde are serious and the party will take a call on his fate.

Pawar's statement is being seen as an indication that the party leadership may ask Munde to tender his resignation. Munde also said he will accept any decision taken by the party.

“The allegations being made against Munde are serious in nature. Being a political party we will have to discuss it and take a decision considering all the views. Munde has explained the matter in detail and it is my responsibility to convey it to the senior leaders and take the next step as soon as possible. I don’t think this should be delayed,” Pawar told reporters, in his response on allegations against the social justice minister.

Munde has found himself in the centre of a controversy after a woman accused him of rape on the pretext of marriage and other favours. The woman, an aspiring singer, alleged that the police were not accepting her written complaint against the minister and that her life is under threat. Munde, however, claimed that the woman is trying to defame and blackmail him.

On Thursday afternoon, Munde went to the NCP headquarters and conducted proceedings of the weekly janata darbar. Before that, he also met the state NCP chief Jayant Patil. Senior NCP leader Praful Patel also met Pawar at his residence where the leaders are said to have discussed the issue in detail.

Patil said that it would be unfair to take any action without going into details of the allegations. “Munde has already gone to the Bombay high court over calls of threat and blackmail from a woman and police are investigating the matter. Allegations are serious but taking action without verifying the fact would be improper,” Patil told reporters outside NCP headquarters.

Meanwhile, in a new twist to the drama, BJP leader and former MLA Krishna Hegde on Thursday accused the same woman of a honey trap and harassment for years. He also filed a complaint with the Mumbai police against the woman.

"The woman used to call and say we are in a relationship but I kept avoiding her. It started in 2010 and continued till 2015. Although I blocked her many times she used to call me from another number. I didn’t know her intention so I did some background check and found out things were not very right. I didn’t want to come out and say anything about a lady as it also didn’t concern me because I never met her.”

"But when this episode of Mr Munde came to the fore I realised she is a serial offender. First she did it with me, she must have done it with someone else and now doing it with Dhananjay Munde. I felt somewhere this thing had to be stopped and thus registered an official police complaint. When I was going to the police station, Manish Dhuri from MNS also called me and informed me that he had a similar experience with that lady,” Hegde said.

Manish Dhuri from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in Mumbai also alleged that the woman first tried to honey trap him by calling at her flat in Andheri a few years ago.

“It was in 2008-2009 when she messaged me from a VIP number and a conversation started between us. It turned into a friendship and one day she asked me to come at a flat saying her sister wanted to meet. She tried to get intimate with me saying that no one was at home. But I felt someone was there who may want to click our pictures. I could sense her intention and left the place as soon as possible. Since then, I started avoiding her calls and messages.”