NCP suspends legislator over rape charge

Saturday February 26, 2011 01:10:19 PM, IANS

Mumbai: An embarrassed Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Saturday suspended party legislator Dilip Wagh, who is accused of raping a 22-year-old woman, an official said.

An NCP spokesperson here confirmed Wagh's suspension but declined to comment on the issue further.

Wagh, the legislator from Pachora in Jalgaon district, and his secretary Mahesh Mali have been booked for allegedly raping a woman at a government guest house in Nashik Feb 21.

Wagh, son of Omkar Wagh -- a senior politician and a two-time legislator from the same constituency -- is now on the run, and this has prompted the party to initiate the disciplinary proceedings against him, NCP sources said.

This is the second major loss of face for the NCP in recent months after its MP Padamsinh Patil was arrested on the charge of murdering his cousin and Congress leader Pavan Raje Nimbalkar in 2006. He is currently out of jail on bail.

According to Nashik police, Wagh and Mali are said to have lured the girl from Aurangabad to Nashik on the pretext of giving her a job.

When she reached Nashik Feb 21, Wagh and Mali raped her in a guest house where they were staying. The next day, the girl registered a police complaint and the law enforcers swung into action.

With the budget session of the legislature starting here in a fortnight, the NCP has moved into damage control mode by suspending Wagh.

After the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena opposition combine flayed the Democratic Front government of attempting to shield the legislator, Home Minister R.R. Patil said the police were probing the case and it would be done impartially.

                                           Home | Top of the Page

Top Stories

Mamata's rail budget promises growth with human face

With highest ever allocation of Rs.57,630 crore ($13 billion), Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday presented the rail budget for 2011-12, promising to move fast to build   »

Hindi and Urdu too... Mamata is picture of confidence

Mamata Banerjee set to present her fifth rail budget

  Most Read

Nine die in Iraq protests as demonstrations scald Arab world

Protests in Iraq dramatically escalated with nine people demanding reforms and an end to corruption   »

Govt forces attack Libyan town, leave 17 dead

'Jamia's secular nature remains intact, albeit its minority status'

Minority status for Jamia Millia Islamia will not change the secular nature of the 90-year-old university, says Vice Chancellor Najeeb Jung. "This is not going to change the secularist nature of the university.   »

Jamia Millia Islamia reaches out to women in distress

  News Pick

India-Pakistan differences affect SAARC: Maldives

Ahead of the SAARC summit his country will host later this year, Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed Friday said the India-Pakistan differences have affected the potential  »

Building Bihar, one road at a time

Shahbaz Khan earlier used to take seven to eight hours to travel from Raghunathpur to the state capital, a distance of about 100 km, to market his goods. Now it takes just three, thanks to a metalled road, the most visible and talked   »

Imbibe multi-skilled personality: AMU VC to girl students

Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Vice Chancellor Prof. P. K. Abdul Azis while addressing the annual function of its Senior Secondary School (Girls) February 24 said that the girls of this school are very promising and hoped the female   »

'Mughal E Azam' revived... This time through MF Husain paintings

Noted painter M.F. Husain has paid his personal tribute to K. Asif's epic film "Mughal-E-Azam" by recreating the movie's fabulous scenes in a series of exquisite paintings. "I love India. I loved the    »

Census in Goa could give distorted picture: Church

The Church in Goa Friday said the influx of migrants and the significant outflow of people working as sailors on long haul   »

Bhopal Muslims complain of irregularities in Census, write to President