Fourth-generation descendant of Bal Gangadhar Tilak was booked by Pune Police upon a complaint from a high court lawyer; complainant says she fears for her life
Rohit Tilak
The great-grandson of freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak and National Youth Congress coordinator, Rohit Tilak was booked in a rape case filed by a Bombay High Court lawyer late on Monday evening.
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The 43-year-old complainant alleged that Tilak took advantage of her over a period of two years with the false promise of marriage.
The complainant told mid-day, "He said he was going to marry me, so I got into a relationship with him. Initially, I was not aware that he was married. I only discovered a year later. He started fabricating stories to play on my emotions, claiming that his marriage existed only on paper. He said he got married against his wishes and only had relations with his wife to bear a child."
A fourth-generation scion of the Tilak family, the accused had contested the Assembly elections from Kasba Peth against BJP's Girish Bapat in 2014. He is also a relative of Mukta Tilak, the current Pune mayor from BJP. According to the police, the woman is a divorcee with two children, who live with her ex-husband.
Cop speak
According to an officer from the Vishrambaug police station, "Being a high court lawyer, she was working on a few cases related to the Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth. She also met the accused at a political function in 2015, after which they exchanged phone numbers and also started interacting on Facebook."
The cop added, "Later, they started dating and he allegedly sexually abused her with the promise of marriage. The victim said she was raped on several occasions at different locations between 2015 and 2017."
'Threat to life'
The complainant told this reporter, "He physically abused me and many a time, my face would be swollen and would turn black and blue. I had also undergone treatment for this at Sassoon hospital. When I would threaten to approach the police, he would once again become loving towards me. He fooled me."
"I will fight my battle legally. I tried to talk to his wife, but she threatened to kill me. In the past, when I tried calling the cops for help, his men snatched my mobile and thrashed me. My life is under threat and there are chances that they will kill me," she alleged.
She had allegedly tried filing a complaint at Vishrambaug police station on July 8 as well, but when that amounted to nothing, she approached Pune Commissioner of Police Rashmi Shukla and the case was registered on Monday.
An FIR was lodged under Sections 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural offence), 323 (assault), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code.
Assistant Police Inspector VN Shinde is investigating the case.
In her statement to the cops, she alleged that Tilak had also forced her into an abortion and that he also owed her '10 lakh.
"During election time, he had demanded '15 lakh from her for some personal work. She gave him '10 lakh, which he never returned. Until the abortion, Rohit was in touch with her, but later he started neglecting her. On two occasions, victim tried to end her life. She later discovered that Tilak was married. She approached his wife, who allegedly manhandled her," said a cop.
Despite repeated attempts to contact the Tilak family, they refused to comment on the matter.
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