Expelled AIMIM leader booked in second rape case

An expelled All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) municipal corporator, Syed Mateen Sayed Rasheed, has been booked in a second rape case within four months, officials said on Monday.

Mateen, 33, is currently in jail for a previous rape offence registered by Aurangabad City Chowk Police station in January, after a woman accused him of sexual assault on the pretext of getting her a job. He was arrested a month ago.

Now, however, the Chakan Police, Pune, have lodged another rape case - allegedly committed at gun-point - against the controversial city father following a fresh complaint.

"Yes, in view of these developments, the party had expelled him in December itself. We have no connection with him in any manner. Besides him, AIMIM has another 25 corporators in the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC)," an AIMIM spokesperson told IANS.

In the second instance, the victim complained that she was a resident of Chakan and accused Mateen of raping her repeatedly between November 2018 and February 2019, at his home and other locations including a hotel and an amusement park.

She has also charged Mateen with forcibly taking her signatures on some blank papers and named some of his other relatives who she alleged had also molested her.

Mateen had been seen campaigning for some rival candidates in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections when he targeted the AIMIM"s nominee, legislator Imtiyaz Jaleel.

Known for a series of controversies which embarrassed the AIMIM in the past three years, in August 2018, Mateen caused an uproar when he opposed a motion of tribute to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the AMC general body meeting.

Furious over his objections, angry Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena members had assaulted him as AIMIM members watched silently.

That same month, he had resisted efforts to sing the Vande Mataram in the AMC though the AIMIM members rose to pay respects during the rendition of Vande Mataram for which the party faced fresh flak.

--IANS

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