Andheri woman accuses Peddar Road resident of cheating, exploitation

This picture has been used for representational purposes.

A 48-year-old woman from Andheri has accused a Peddar Road resident and animal activist, Vijay Mohnani, of cheating and exploiting her on the "pretext of marriage". However Mohnani's lawyer, Shravan Giri, has denied all the allegations, calling them baseless.

The victim has filed an FIR at Oshiwara police station claiming that she was physically exploited by Mohnani with the promise of marriage. The police have registered a case against Mohnani under sections 376 (2) (rape), 406 (breach of trust) and 420 (cheating). Mohnani is the founder of the Bombay Animal Rights (BAR Group) that works for the welfare of animals.

According to the woman, in 2017, she was introduced to Mohnani by a common friend. Later, they started exchanging messages and occasionally met for coffee. "Vijay promised marriage. We then started visiting places outside Mumbai and I spent huge sums of money on these tours. I have even helped him financially. But, over a period of time, I realised that Vijay never intended to marry me. I learnt that he was seeing other women, too. I felt cheated and decided to file a police complaint. On September 30, a case was registered against the man," the woman said.

Asked about what evidence she had to prove her charges, she said, "I have text messages, recordings and even my credit card statements to prove the claims. I have mentioned all this in my statement to the police. The evidence, too, has been submitted to the police station."

Giri refuted all charges and said the woman had been booked by the police in the past. "The woman claims to be a lawyer. She has apparently taken money from many developers over certain commitments which she failed to honour. These developers came together in April 2019 and filed a complaint against her at Kherwadi police station. The complaint filed against Mohnani seems to be out of vengeance, retribution and grudge for the ongoing Kherwadi case," Giri explained. Giri said his client would move court to get relief in the Oshiwara case. "This is completely false case and we will fight to any extent to expose this woman," Giri said.

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