Former Maharashtra minister Uttam Prakash Khandare has been charged with rape by the Pune city police based on the complaint filed by a 37-year-old woman, who also claimed that she gave birth to a boy after the incident.
As per the FIR lodged against him, Khandare allegedly entered into a relationship with the complainant in 2012 by promising to marry her. It is alleged that Khandare raped the complainant woman by threatening her at knife point.
Cheques allegedly given to the complainant by Khandare bounced. It is also alleged that Khandare and his aides threatened to kill the complainant woman. Based on her complaint, police have booked Khandare along with his aides Mahadev Bhosale, Dashrath Gawali and a woman, under sections 376, 377, 406, 420, 506 (2), 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
Khandare, now 65, was a Shiv Sena MLA during 1994-1999 from Solapur. He was the minister for social justice and minister of state for sports in this period when Shiv Sena – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in power in Maharashtra.