Bengal Police serve notice to Padma awardee monk Kartik Maharaj accused of raping woman in 2013

Kolkata, June 30 (IANS) The cops of Nabagram Police Station under Murshidabad District Police, on Monday, served notice to Padma Shree awardee monk Kartik Maharaj, attached to the Murshidabad unit of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha, who had been accused by a woman recently of raping her for six months way back in 2013.

Although the alleged rape and forceful abortion of the victim took place between January and June of 2013, the complaint in the matter was lodged last week only.

In the notice, Kartik Maharaj has been asked to be physically present at Nabagram for interrogation in the matter on Tuesday.

On Monday, a copy from the Nabagram Police Station reached the Murshidabad unit of Bharat Sevashram Sangha to physically hand over the notice in the matter.

However, Kartik Maharaj was not present there at that moment. After waiting there for some time, the cops handed over the notice to a representative of the Ashram.

Already a political slugfest has surfaced in the state over the complaints against Kartik Maharaj.

The ruling Trinamool Congress is highlighting the issue and accusing the BJP of being silent on this rape case since the accused monk had been reportedly close to the saffron camp.

On the other hand, the state unit of the BJP in West Bengal had questioned the timing of the complaint.

According to state BJP leaders, the complaint had been lodged 12 years after the alleged incident of multiple rapes took place and that, too, at a time when the state administration and the ruling Trinamool Congress are cornered over the Kasba law college rape case.

In her complaint with Nabagram police last week, the woman alleged that Kartik Maharaj had promised her a job at Chanak Adivasi Abasik Balika Vidyalaya, one of the ashram's schools, when the duo met in December 2012.

The survivor said she was also accommodated at the school hostel in January 2013, with an assurance that she would soon be hired.

The woman accusing Kartik Maharaj of raping her at least 12 times between January and June of 2013, had also claimed that the accused monk threatened to commit suicide if she approached the police or inform anyone of what happened to her.

Kartik Maharaj had denied all the allegations against him.

--IANS

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