Beed: An FIR has been lodged against NCP leader Dhananjay Munde for allegedly making obscene comments against his estranged cousin and Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde at an election rally, a police official said Sunday.
The NCP leader, however, said the clip was edited and fake, and his remarks were ‘distorted’ to project him as a ‘villain’ by his rivals to win elections.
A video purportedly showing the NCP leader making the remarks against the minister went viral on social media, following which a BJP functionary from Parli in this district filed a police complaint against Dhananjay Munder Saturday. Both the cousins are locked in a battle from the Parli segment for Monday’s Maharashtra Assembly polls.
Pankaja Munde, the sitting BJP MLA from Parli, is the daughter of late party veteran Gopinath Munde.
“Acting on the complaint filed by Parli BJP president Jugal Kishor Lohiya, the FIR was lodged late Saturday night against Dhananjay Munde under Indian Penal Code Sections 500 (defamation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult modesty of a woman) and 294 (obscene act in public place),” Parli police station in-charge Purushottam Chobe told this agency.
Lohiya in his complaint said the NCP leader allegedly made the obscene remarks October 17 against the BJP minister at a public meeting held at Vida village in Kej tehsil. The BJP has also complained to the Election Commission on this issue.
However, Dhananjay Munde said the clip was being circulated on social media by ‘distorting’ his comments to ‘deliberately’ defame him.
“My speech at Vida has been tampered with. This is clearly an attempt (by rivals) to make me a villain and win the elections,” Dhananjay said at a press conference here Sunday.
“I have succeeded in politics on my own. I sacrificed Parli constituency for Pankaja Munde (apparently referring to 2009 when Gopinath Munde fielded his daughter),” added Dhananjay.
The NCP leader pointed out that he spoke at Vida last Thursday and the clip went viral, Saturday.
“The complainant has not submitted any CD of my speech and neither the police verified it. We also tried to complain over this controversy, but the police didn’t entertain it. But my speech in Vida is tampered and people who recently entered the BJP have made this attempt,” alleged Dhananjay.
“I have not taken the name of my sister, I have never used words which will hamper the brother-sister relationship. This is an attempt to finish my political career. Our family has more number of female members… I will never make such comments which are below the dignity of women,” asserted Dhananjay.
Earlier in a Facebook statement late Saturday night, Dhananjay demanded that the authenticity of the ‘edited’ clip be tested in a forensic laboratory. “Those who have ‘edited’ the clip should at least respect the holy relationship of brother and sister,” the leader of opposition in the state Legislative Council said.
PTI