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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Probe ordered into molestation charge against Maharashtra BJYM leader
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Probe ordered into molestation charge against Maharashtra BJYM leader

Legislative council chairman orders probe into the charges brought by a female BJYM worker against former BJYM Mumbai president Ganesh Pandey

File photo. Legislative council chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar also asked chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the home portfolio, to make a statement on the issue in the council on Friday. Photo: PTIPremium
File photo. Legislative council chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar also asked chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the home portfolio, to make a statement on the issue in the council on Friday. Photo: PTI

Mumbai: In a major embarrassment for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra, the legislative council chairman on Tuesday ordered an inquiry by a senior police officer into molestation charges brought by a female Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) worker against former BJYM Mumbai president Ganesh Pandey.

Legislative council chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar also asked chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the home portfolio, to make a statement on the issue in the council on Friday. The council chairman also ordered an in-camera recording of the woman’s statement.

The woman made the charge in a letter written to Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar on 22 March. She reported that Pandey had forced her to watch pornographic videos on his mobile phone when the Mumbai BJYM office-bearers were on way to Mathura in Uttar Pradesh on 4 March to attend a BJYM convention. She complained that in Mathura too Pandey asked her obscene questions and passed lewd remarks.

Following the allegation, Pandey resigned on 26 March and Shelar dissolved the entire BJYM Mumbai executive.

However, opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party legislators alleged that police had refused to register a First Information Report (FIR) against Pandey under political pressure.

The BJP was embarrassed further by alliance party Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray who on Tuesday called for action against Pandey. Senior Shiv Sena legislator Neelam Gorhe demanded an in- camera probe if the woman was not willing to lodge a complaint or was under pressure.

Pandey told Marathi news channel ABP Majha on Tuesday that all charges against him were baseless and the result of a political conspiracy. He said he was ready for any probe but that an FIR should be lodged against him only after a “proper inquiry".

The issue snowballed into a major embarrassment for the BJP after a purported copy of a letter that the BJYM worker supposedly wrote to Shelar was widely circulated on social media. Opposition legislators, in particular women, took umbrage at what they termed as the BJP’s “hypocrisy and selective morality". In both the houses of the state legislature the opposition members alleged the BJP government was protecting Pandey.

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Published: 29 Mar 2016, 08:59 PM IST
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