FIR Against Ex-Gujarat BJP Vice President Jayanti Bhanushali for Rape of 21-Year-Old Woman

Ahmedabad, Jul 19: An FIR was registered today against Gujarat BJP leader Jayanti Bhanushali on a charge of raping a 21-year-old woman under the pretext of securing her admission in a reputed fashion designing college, police said.

The FIR has been registered against Bhanushali, a former vice president of the state BJP unit, at Sarthana police station in Surat, said Assistant Commissioner of Police J K Pandya. No arrest has been made in the case so far.

In her complaint, the Surat-based woman claimed that she had contacted Bhanushali, who was the party vice-president till he resigned last month after she was told that he wields clout and could help her get admission. She claimed that Bhanushali called her to Ahmedabad from Surat by promising her to get admission, the FIR stated.

The woman stated that after she reached Ahmedabad, Bhanushali asked her to accompany him in his car to Gandhinagar last November, it stated. According to the complainant, Bhanushali raped her in the car while his accomplice filed the action on his mobile phone to blackmail her.

As per the FIR, Bhanushali raped her on several occasions till March this year by threatening to circulate her video. The woman had first submitted an application seeking action against Bhanushali to Surat Police Commissioner Satish Sharma on June 10.

The application was then forwarded to the local police station for further action. Pandya said the further investigation in the case will be conducted by Deputy Commissioner of Police Leena Patil.

Bhanushali (53), who hails from Kutch district, resigned as the party vice-president on June 13 in the wake of the allegation. He had represented Abdasa seat in Kutch district from 2007 to 2012 as the BJP MLA. Bhanushali had claimed that the charge was a conspiracy to malign his image.

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