The Thane (rural) Police have registered an FIR against former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Narendra Pawar and dismissed police constable Shailesh Patil over allegations that they sexually assaulted a 22-year-old woman at gunpoint in Bhiwandi. Both accused are on the run, and police have launched a manhunt, according to officials cited by The Indian Express.
The FIR includes charges related to gangrape, brandishing a firearm and other provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The alleged incident took place at a farmhouse in Kusgaon, where the woman said she was taken on Sunday after Pawar offered to help her with a marital dispute.
According to her complaint, the woman was coaxed into consuming alcohol after reaching the farmhouse and was threatened with a firearm before being sexually assaulted. She alleged that Patil also assaulted her after Pawar left the property. The woman told police that she was subsequently dropped at her home.
The case has also raised questions about how complaints are handled when an incident crosses police jurisdictional boundaries. The woman initially approached the Thane City Police because she was unsure which police station had jurisdiction, but the report said her FIR was not registered there. She later contacted Congress corporator Kanchan Kulkarni through social media on Wednesday and shared WhatsApp chats and videos in support of her allegations.
An FIR was subsequently registered by the Thane (rural) Police on the basis of the woman’s complaint. An official said a medical examination confirmed sexual assault. The report did not provide details of the medical findings or state whether the police had recovered the alleged firearm.
Pawar, who represented the Kalyan West constituency, resigned from all party positions after the FIR was registered. In his resignation letter, he denied the allegations and described the FIR as a conspiracy intended to defame him. He said he was stepping down because the case could adversely affect the image of the party.
The allegations involve both a former elected representative and a former police employee, placing scrutiny on the investigation as the accused remain unavailable to investigators. The police have not announced arrests or detailed the next steps in the search beyond confirming that a manhunt is under way.
The immediate official process will involve locating the two accused, recording statements and collecting the digital and other evidence referred to in the complaint. The investigation will also determine the circumstances in which the woman approached different authorities before the FIR was registered.
