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'Never drugged, raped by Shifu founder'

Updated on: 24 September,2017 08:23 AM IST  |  Mumbai
Santosh Wagh and Sailee Dhayalkar |

The Malad sisters whose parents had told the high court that the girls were brainwashed, drugged and raped by its Shifu Sunkriti, have now accused their parents of physically assaulting

'Never drugged, raped by Shifu founder'

The Malad sisters at the centre of the Shifu Sunkriti cult drama, whose parents had told the high court that the girls were brainwashed, drugged and raped by its founder, have now turned around and accused their parents of physically assaulting, abusing and torturing them for years.


Shifu Sunkriti founder, Sunil Kulkarni
Shifu Sunkriti founder, Sunil Kulkarni


In a letter to DCP (Detection) Dilip Sawant on September 14, the sisters, aged 24 and 22, have asked for protection from their parents while refuting all allegations of being assaulted, drugged or raped by Shifu Sunkriti founder, Sunil Kulkarni. They have, however, said they want nothing to do with Kulkarni anymore after finding out he is an odious man.


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The letter is a scathing attack on their parents. The accusations include being tortured and physically harmed since childhood. "Slapping, mental harassment, having us followed, suppressing our thoughts and opinions because we are girls was a regular occurrence at home. We have been abused, beaten and physically manhandled by our parents and relatives and tortured into confessing to crimes we never committed," the girls said in their letter.

"Our lives are at stake. We live in constant fear of being harmed by our parents. We want legal protection from them. We request the high court to kindly hear us out," the letter states.

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"We have also found out what kind of person Sunil Kulkarni really is and do not wish to be in contact with him. But, the allegations of us being raped by Kulkarni are completely false and cooked up by our parents to harass us."

The elder sister
The elder sister

Parents went to HC
In April this year, the father of the two girls had filed a petition in the Bombay High Court requesting the court's intervention, alleging that his daughters had been drugged and sexually abused by Kulkarni as part of the Shifu Sunkriti ideology.

On April 19, the high court ordered an FIR to be filed against Kulkarni and the crime branch was asked to investigate the claims made by the parents. Kulkarni was arrested the same evening and is still behind bars. The court, early this month, had directed DCP Sawant to file a report in the case, which is likely to be filed on September 26.

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'Abused, beaten since childhood'
The girls have said, "During the course of our confinement [at their parents' house], we were regularly forced to confess that we were drug peddlers and were running a prostitution racket while working as prostitutes."

According to the police, the parents of the girls said that one of their daughters had started working with Kulkarni's event management company in September 2016. There, she allegedly got lured into the Shifu Sunkriti cult and gradually started spending more time at work. She drew her sister, too, into the cult. They alleged that the girls left home at odd hours on the pretext of going to work. The parents got suspicious with the behavioural changes in the girls and realised there was
something amiss. Their doubts were confirmed after they met Kulkarni for the first time and, thereafter they tried to stop the girls from being in his company.

Also Read: Mumbai: New case against cult leader involved in sex and drugs racket

'Forced to file rape case'
The girls, however, have told the police that their parents used their association with Shifu Sunkriti to intensify their ill-treatment of them. They said they were assaulted and forced to make allegations against Kulkarni. "My father forced me to file a fake rape case against Kulkarni at Malad police station. They pressured us by threatening to lock us or send us to jail." Refuting all the allegations they had earlier made against Kulkarni at the behest of their parents, they said. "We were never given any drugs nor were we ever physically, sexually or mentally assaulted by Kulkarni. Our parents are misleading the court by making false allegations with disgusting facts."

'They tortured us even after leaving home'
The girls have alleged that the parents have tried every possible way to defame them – by sending goons and detectives after them, setting their lawyer on them to harass them into taking back the case against the parents, by threatening the sisters' friends and telling people to stay away from them as they are criminals. "They threatened our earlier legal aid lawyer into resigning from her panel and then sent a letter to my college saying I was associated with a drugs and sex cult. They also said they would not pay for my education if I did not withdraw all cases against them."

"They sent detectives on our trail. We live in a PG accommodation. A few days after we moved in our landlady gets an anonymous call on her landline, asking about our whereabouts," the letter states.

 

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