Mane moves HC seeking quashing of rape cases

After being on the run for a fortnight,Mane had on April 8 surrendered before Satara police after which he was arrested.

Mane has rejected the sexual assault charges levelled against him.

The 63-year-old writer-cum social activist and Padma Shri recipient,who is also a former MLC,has pleaded in the petition that he has been falsely implicated.

Trouble for Mane started late last month when three women,aged 30 to 35 and working as cooks at Shardabai Ashram Shala,a residential school for underprivileged tribal students at Jakatwadi near here,filed separate complaints against him alleging rape.

Three more complaints were lodged later.

Among the complainants are helpers,peons and cooks who were working in different branches of the school. Mane is the working president of the organisation that runs the schools.

The complainants accused Mane of sexually exploiting them between 2003 and 2010 by threatening to transfer them or by promising to make them permanent employees of the school.

After the complaints came to light,Mane had filed an anticipatory bail application which was rejected last week by the Satara district court.