Finish Dhananjay Munde probe in a week, Mumbai cops told; minister not to be axed – Times of India

MUMBAI: State home minister Anil Deshmukh has directed Mumbai police to complete within a week the probe into the rape allegation against social justice minister Dhananjay Munde and his complaint against the accuser, reports Prafulla Marpakwar.
Assistant police commissioner Jyotsna Rasam has already recorded the woman’s statement.
Need in-depth probe in complaints against Munde and woman: Pawar
Social justice minister Dhananjay Munde of the NCP, who is facing rape accusations, will not be sacked from the MVA cabinet yet.
“We discussed the entire case, particularly the rape allegations against Munde, at length. It was felt that in view of the serious allegations of blackmail against the woman and that, too, by three persons of different ideologies, we should wait for the outcome of the police probe instead of taking any action in haste against Munde,” a senior NCP cabinet member told TOI.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar said: “An in-depth probe must be conducted in the case, particularly in view of the fact that serious allegations have been made against the woman too. The NCP wants an assistant police commissioner-rank woman officer to be part of the police investigation team.”
He added, “It appears that Munde, too, fearing that the woman would blackmail him-…had approached the Bombay high court and submitted all the facts of his domestic relationship as well as threats from her.”
The NCP chief’s statement on waiting for the police report before taking action against Munde was a complete U-turn from his observation on Thursday that the allegations against the minister were very serious and the party would soon decide the future course of action.
Besides Pawar and home minister Anil Deshmukh, the meeting, held at the residence of senior NCP leader Praful Patel late on Thursday, was attended by Ajit Pawar, Supriya Sule, Jayant Patil and Nawab Malik.
On Friday, Deshmukh held a prolonged meeting with the joint commissioner (law & order) Vishwas Nangare Patil and additional commissioners Sandeep Karnik and Jyotsna Rasam. “As per Supreme Court guidelines, while Mumbai police can probe the case within six weeks and decide if it is fit for lodging an FIR, Deshmukh took the view that the entire investigation be completed as early as possible, preferably within a week,’’ a senior NCP minister said.
On the BJP’s sustained campaign against the NCP, particularly Munde and Malik, whose son-in-law has been arrested in a drugs case, the NCP chief said it was due to “restlessness and frustration” after losing power in the state.