Mumbai: AAP leaders claim names ‘added’ to sexual harassment FIR

Mayank Gandhi was among those booked on charges of abetting sexual harassment, after a female party volunteer filed a complaint stating that he had not paid heed to her complaints regarding an incident in April.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday claimed that the woman who had accused three party leaders of sexual harassment had not actually named them and were puzzled as to how the names were added to the First Information Report (FIR).

AAP leader Mayank Gandhi was among those booked on Sunday on charges of abetting sexual harassment, after a 21-year-old female party volunteer filed a criminal complaint stating that he had not paid heed to her complaints regarding an incident in April.

At a press conference on Monday, senior AAP leaders Preeti Sharma Menon and Gandhi claimed that the victim had issued a fresh statement and met senior police officials stating that the names of three AAP leaders – Gandhi, Ruben Mascarenhas and Vinay Mishra - were added without her knowledge.

According to the victim’s statement, which was circulated by AAP, she has claimed that she had gone to lodge a complaint against another former party volunteer but as she was getting late and had to leave, the cops asked her to sign on blank sheets. “I was assured that it was okay to do so and I was not given any copy of my statement or complaint,” the statement quotes the victim saying.

But the Oshiwara police station, which had lodged the FIR, have a different story to tell. “The victim has clearly named all these suspects in her statement. Only after her statement did we book them,” a police officer said.

The case has now been transferred to the crime branch after the victim met senior police officials on Monday.