’Rapist’ MLA arrested

NCP legislator Dilip Wagh, accused of raping a 22-year-old woman was been arrested at Pali Hill after being on the run

'Rapist' MLA arrested

NCP legislator Dilip Wagh, accused of raping a 22-year-old woman was been arrested at Pali Hill after being on the run

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator Dilip Wagh was arrested late on Saturday on charges of raping a woman at a government guesthouse in Nashik on February 21. Wagh, a legislator from Pachora in Jalgaon district was suspended from the party earlier on Saturday. Wagh and his secretary Mahesh Mali have been booked for allegedly raping a woman after luring her with the offer of a job opportunity.

Wagh, son of Omkar Wagh,u00a0 a senior politician and a two-time legislator from the same constituency -- was on the run. This prompted the party to initiate disciplinary proceedings against him. According to Nashik police, Wagh and Mali are said to have lured the girl from Aurangabad to Nashik on the pretext of giving her a job.

When she Nashik, Wagh and Mali raped her in a guesthouse where they were staying. The next day, the girl registered a police complaint and the law enforcers swung into action.

This is the second major loss of face for the NCP in recent months after its MP Padamsinh Patil was arrested on the charge of murdering his cousin and Congress leader Pavan Raje Nimbalkar in 2006. He is currently out on bail.

After the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena opposition combine flayed the Democratic Front government of attempting to shield the legislator, Home Minister R R Patil said the police were probing the case and it would be done impartially. With the budget session of the legislature starting here in a fortnight, the NCP has moved into damage control mode.