Woman accuses Dhananjay Munde of rape; Maharashtra minister denies charge, calls it blackmail

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