NCP leader Laxman Dhoble gets interim relief in rape case

Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Laxman Dhoble on Tuesday approached the special women's court with an anticipatory bail application in the rape case filed against him by a woman employee of a city-based college.

Dhoble, a former minister in the Congress-NCP state government, while filing his application, told the court that the woman was trying to seek revenge against him.

Advocate Ashok Sarogi, Dhoble's counsel, informed the court that the woman, who has alleged that she was raped and blackmailed between 2011 and 2013, is said to have embezzled funds from students who had approached the college for admission. Sarogi said when the alleged scam took place, it was widely reported by the media and that the police too had filed a case against her. He also claimed that at one point the woman had gone underground.

The court, after going through the arguments advanced by Sarogi, said it is important to protect the liberty of the accused, and thus granted him interim relief till October 28, when it will hear the arguments in detail.