Fed up with harassment and Pune police's refusal to take their complaint, women drive down to Mulund to confront the pervert and get him arrested
The group of eight women drove all the way from Pune to Mumbai to confront the accused at his house. Pics/Rajesh Gupta
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When you mess with one woman, you have to answer to all her friends. Eight women drove all the way from Pune to Mumbai to teach a lesson to a Mulund-based man who had slept with their friend, cheated her of Rs 5 lakh, and then sent compromising pictures of her to all of them. Needless to say, the man apologised promptly and promised to never make the same mistake again.
The accused, Mahendra Salvi, circulated this picture of the victim among all her friends
According to the women, the accused, Mahendra Salvi, was in a relationship with one of them but he cheated her. "He told me he was a reputed builder in Kalyan and asked me to invest in one of his projects. He took Rs 5 lakh from me, promising to give me Rs 30 lakh in six months. That was two years ago," said the victim. "Recently, I demanded that he return my money, following which we had an argument," she added.
The accused Mahendra Salvi
In order to teach her a lesson, Mahendra circulated some of their intimate photos among her circle of friends. He didn't stop there; he also began sending them obscene messages on WhatsApp and social media. All the women in the group are married, which complicated things for them. One of the women recalled, "The photos embarrassed us deeply. We were scared to leave our phones unattended anywhere, and we could not sleep out of the fear that our husbands would see these messages."
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Unable to bear the harassment any longer, the women approached Pushpa Marathe, a social worker from the Pune-based organisation, Rajmata Jigau Mahila Sanstha. "We tried to register a complaint with the local police, but the cops refused to take our case. After that, we decided to go to Mumbai and teach him a lesson ourselves," said Marathe.
They drove nearly 150 km from their village in Chakan, Pune, to Mumbai, finally arriving at 11.30 pm on Wednesday. They first went to the Mulund police station and narrated their ordeal to the cops. A constable was deputed to locate the accused, and they traced his address to a slum at Ramgarh, Mulund West.
Slumdog no millionaire
"We were shocked to learn that he lived in a slum. He had always boasted of being a big-time developer with four to five big projects under his belt," said another woman from the group. Accompanied by a constable, the women then marched to Mahendra's house. They didn't find him there, but they did see his wife, children and mother. They waited for a long time, but when Mahendra didn't show, they went back to the police station and gave a written complaint.
They made him sorry
The women may not have got their Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl moment, but their anger was not lost on Mahendra. The very same night, he went to Mulund police station to apologise and give a written assurance that he would never repeat the mistake. Shripad Kale, senior police inspector at Mulund police station, said, "The women had come to our police station on Wednesday. We took down their statement, after which the accused appeared before us.
He gave a written apology and assured us that he will not repeat the offence. We have asked him to appear before the Chakan police as well." When mid-day reached out to the Chakan police to ask why they refused to take the women's complaint, Manoj Yadav, senior police inspector, said, "They are most welcome to register a complaint; we will surely look into the case and ensure that they get justice."
150 km
Distance they drove from Chakan to Mulund
Rs 5 lakh
Amount that the accused took from the victim
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