Pune BJP leader booked for sexually harassing woman police officer; party removes him from post
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Pune: Pramod Kondhre, General Secretary of the Pune BJP city unit, has been booked for allegedly sexually harassing a senior woman police officer near the venue of an event attended by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday morning. The FIR, registered Tuesday night, includes charges under Sections 74 and 75 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) relating to outraging the modesty of a woman and sexual harassment.
The incident reportedly occurred at a tea stall close to the event venue in central Pune, where BJP office-bearers and local citizens had gathered. According to the complaint, Kondhre allegedly touched the officer inappropriately while she was on duty. CCTV footage from the location has been obtained, and a senior official confirmed that an Assistant Commissioner of Police–rank woman officer is leading the investigation.
Kondhre has denied the allegations in his statement to the police and has not been arrested so far. Following the filing of the FIR, the BJP removed Kondhre from his position.
State BJP leader Chitra Wagh stated, “The BJP has always stood for the dignity of women. Kondhre’s behaviour is unacceptable and we support strict punishment irrespective of his party affiliation.”
Meanwhile, opposition parties including the NCP (SP), Congress, and Shiv Sena (UBT) condemned the incident. NCP (SP) city chief Prashant Jagtap accused BJP leaders of misusing power and said the incident reflects the party’s values. Congress city chief Arvind Shinde announced protests against the BJP, alleging a pattern of disrespect toward women. Shiv Sena (UBT) city president Sanjay More also criticized the BJP over the issue.
This is the second recent incident involving BJP leaders in Pune. A few days ago, another office-bearer was booked for allegedly harassing a woman medical officer from the Pune Municipal Corporation.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
