A 33-year-old Dubai-based woman has sought the registration of an FIR against Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale, accusing him of raping her under the pretext of marriage, and also tweeted her complaint to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
The woman also accused Shewale of mental exploitation and filed a complaint against him in Mumbai’s Saki Naka Police station.
In her complaint, the woman alleged that Mumbai police had not registered an FIR against Shewale due to his political clout and connections.
She has also written an open letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde demanding justice from the government.
“I am begging you for justice. If Saki Naka police does not take my FIR, I will not be left with any option but to end my life,” the woman stated in the letter.
According to the complaint, Shewale established physical relations with the woman after telling her that his relations with his wife were strained and promised to marry her after divorcing his wife.
“The MP used to invite me for dinner at the MP House in Delhi whenever I used to come from Dubai. In October 2021, I posted a video and photo of me and Shewale on Instagram, following which he lodged an FIR against me in Sharjah and I was arrested. I spent 78 days in jail but I was acquitted later,” the complainant woman told PTI over the phone on Tuesday.
The woman, who is visiting Mumbai, claimed she had lodged a complaint of rape against Shewale in April this year at Sakinaka police station but no further action was taken.
The woman, who runs a textile business, also claimed that her business was destroyed and that she was allegedly defamed by the Shiv Sena MP.
Sakinaka police on July 11 registered an FIR against the woman on the charges of extortion, cheating, and defamation on the direction of a metropolitan magistrate’s court in Andheri. The court order came on an application filed by Shewale.
The MP had stated in his complaint to the court that the woman approached him on the pretext of seeking financial assistance for her business, but eventually started extorting money by threatening to defame him. The woman was pressuring him to divorce his wife and marry her, Shewale alleged.
Kamini Shewale, wife of the Shiv Sena MP has also denied all the allegations made by the woman. Shewale clarified that the allegations levelled against her husband were completely baseless. “This is a deliberate conspiracy to tarnish the political and social reputation of MP Rahul Shewale,” she stated.
Meanwhile, the MP himself has approached the Mumbai Police’s Cyber Cell, demanding an FIR against the woman for uploading a video and a letter defaming him on Twitter, a police official said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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