Woman accuses weekly editor, Husband of Molestation

After a woman complained against her husband and the editor of a local Marathi weekly, the Nalasopara police arrested them on charges of molestation and wrongful confinement on Thursday.

After a woman complained against her husband and the editor of a local Marathi weekly, the Nalasopara police arrested them on charges of molestation and wrongful confinement on Thursday.

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On Friday, Zaheer Hawaldar, editor of Hawaldar Times, and his employee Sharad Pawar were, however, released on bail.

The police said Pooja (name changed on request), and her husband often quarrelled. After their last argument, Sharad did not return to his Samelpada residence at Nalasopara for more than a fortnight.

When he returned home, the couple had another heated argument and they decided to go to Hawaldar, Sharad’s employer, to sort out the matter.

On June 26, the couple went to Hawaldar’s office. The editor allegedly asked Sharad to wait outside and took Pooja inside his cabin.

“In her police statement, she said after taking her to his cabin, Hawaldar misbehaved with her and tried to touch her private parts,” said Assistant Police Inspector R. Raskar.

Pooja escaped and lodged a complaint against her husband and Hawaldar with the Nalasopara police.

She reportedly told the police that Hawaldar wanted to record what happened in his cabin on the closed-circuit television cameras so that he could blackmail her in future.