A Bharatiya Janata Party worker from Chandrapur district in Maharashtra was arrested on Tuesday after a video showing him kissing the complainant on board a bus surfaced, Hindustan Times reported. The woman had lodged a complaint against Ravindra Bawanthade accusing him of rape after the video was shared widely on social media.
The incident is believed to have taken place on June 27 when Bawanthade and the woman were on their way back from Nagpur to Gadchiroli. The two of them had gone to Nagpur as Bawanthade had promised to get her a job there, the woman said in her complaint. Bawanthade, despite being married already, had promised the complainant that he would marry her, she said.
After being absconding for a few days, Bawanthade was arrested from Nabhid in Chandrapur on Tuesday. He was sent to judicial custody till July 6.
Bawanthade worked as a school teacher in Gadchiroli, and the 19-year-old woman was once his student. He was the party in-charge of Armori Assembly constituency during 2014 Maharashtra Assembly elections, Hindustan Times reported.
Two bus conductors and the driver of the bus found that a CCTV camera on the bus had captured the incident. They recorded a video of the clip on their phones and circulated on social media. It eventually reached a person known to the complainant, who informed her. The police arrested the conductors and driver under the Information Technology Act for sharing the clip, The Times of India reported.
Ashok Nete, Gadchiroli Lok Sabha member and a BJP leader, told Hindustan Times that Bawanthade was not a member of the party anymore. “As he failed to attend party meetings repeatedly, he was removed from the post of party general secretary,” he said.
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