Dhananjay Munde accused of rape, he says attempt to blackmail

A woman has accused Maharashtra Social Justice Minister Dhananjay Munde of rape and alleged that the Mumbai Police did not take cognizance of her complaint.

Munde, however, denied the allegations on Tuesday. He claimed that he is being blackmailed by the complainant and her sister, with whom Munde was in a relationship and has two children with.

On January 11, the woman had sent a written complaint to the Mumbai Police commissioner, stating that Munde had repeatedly raped her in 2006. She also took to social media to claim that she had earlier approached the Oshiwara police station but was turned away and her complaint was not accepted.

The woman in her complaint to the commissioner has claimed that Munde is her brother-in-law and had married her sister in 1998.

She claimed that Munde first raped her in 2006 when she was alone at her home and since then had repeated the act multiple times over the years. She further said that Munde gave assurances of marrying her as well and helping her get work as a singer in Bollywood.

Munde (45), though a first-term MLA, is deemed to be one of the important leaders of the NCP, which he had joined in 2012 after breaking ranks with the BJP and his uncle Gopinath Munde due to the latter preferring his daughter Pankaja Munde to be his heir apparent.

Munde, who is married and has a young daughter, said in his statement that the accusations 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.

“I was in a relationship with a woman since 2003… my family and my wife were aware. I had two children from this relationship. They stay with me and have been accepted by my family,” Munde added.

He said that since 2019, the woman with whom he was in a relationship and the complainant had been blackmailing him. Munde further said that he had filed a complaint with the police last November and also moved the Bombay High Court seeking a stay on the distribution of defamatory content against him. The matter is being heard by the court at present.

“The allegations made against me are false and are part of a conspiracy to blackmail and extort money from me,” Munde said. He added that he had proof in the form of text messages sent by the complainant, demanding money from him.