Woman accuses Maharashtra minister of rape; he terms it blackmail

The 37-year-old woman, an aspiring singer, said she wrote to the Mumbai police commissioner on January 10, stating that Munde repeatedly raped her in 2006. She also claimed that she approached Oshiwara police here earlier but her complaint was not accepted.

Mumbai: A woman has accused Maharashtra Social Justice Minister Dhananjay Munde of rape and claimed the Mumbai police had ignored her complaint.

Hailing from Indore, the woman's complaint letter has gone viral on social media where she has in detail written about the sexual abuse at the hands of the minister.

The 37-year-old woman, an aspiring singer, said she wrote to the Mumbai police commissioner on January 10, stating that Munde repeatedly raped her in 2006. She also claimed that she approached Oshiwara police here earlier but her complaint was not accepted.

She said the minister abused her on the pretext of getting her singing assignments in Bollywood and even made videos of the act.

The NCP leader denied the allegations, claiming he is being blackmailed by the complainant and her sister. Munde said he had been in a relationship with the complainant's sister and sired two children.

Munde (45) said the woman's claims were part of a conspiracy to blackmail him. He, however, acknowledged that he was in a relationship with the complainant's sister and has two children with her.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Munde said his wife, family, and friends were aware of this relationship, adding the two kids have been accepted by his family.

He said the woman with whom he was in a relationship had been blackmailing him since 2019 and he had filed a police complaint and also moved the Bombay High Court seeking a stay on the distribution of defamatory content against him.

(With PTI inputs)