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Supriya Sule counters audio ‘threat’ clip with defamation suit
An audio clip of a woman, who identifies herself as Supriya Sule on the call, threatening a man that Shewale claims is him, surfaced on Thursday and went viral. While Sule did not question the authenticity of clip, she denied of issuing a threat.
Rahul Shewale, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) member who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last week, has alleged that Supriya Sule, member of Parliament and NCP leader from Baramati, threatened him over a phone call.
An audio clip of a woman, who identifies herself as Supriya Sule on the call, threatening a man that Shewale claims is him, surfaced on Thursday and went viral. While Sule did not question the authenticity of clip, she denied of issuing a threat.
“I have spoken to my lawyers and will be filing a complaint of defamation in the matter,” she added. “The authentication of this audio is their responsibility. They have made it viral.”
“This is mere gossip,” said Sule. “If this is true, why would one go to media and not the police? What would a normal person do? It is unfortunate that these people have come together in a scheme against me days before election.
They have nothing against me so they are stooping to this level. They cannot handle a female politician doing well,” said Supriya Sule in response to the allegations. Shewale had joined the BJP in presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday.“It is true that she had called me. For quite some days I was not involved in party work and recently even joined the BJP. There was a news report in a paper because of which, I believe, she called me. Rashmi Kamtekar, her personal assisstant, was the one who dialled me, then Supriya Sule came on. She told me I was defaming her. I told her I was not and that I had not made any statement to any newspaper. She threatened to enter my house and hit me,” said Shewale, addressing reporters in Pune on Friday.
On the call, the woman can be heard saying she has never taken a penny from anyone and will not stand for statements like the one Shewale made, with reference to a story that appeared in the local newspapers about his shift from NCP to BJP.
After the audio clip spread on social media, Vinod Tawade, current education minister of Maharashtra and a member of the BJP, said, “The NCP has started seeing failure before them. Therefore they are doing such things.”
Before 2014 election, a video clip of Ajit Pawar, cousin brother of Sule and former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, had surfaced wherein he could be allegedly seen threatening voters. On April 16, 2014, during a rally in Masalwadi village, Pawar had allegedly threatened to cut off water supply of the
villagers if they did not vote for Sule.
