MP: Arrest warrant issued against Cong MLA in rape case

A court here today issued an arrest warrant against Congress MLA Hemant Katare for not appearing before it, despite several summonses, in connection with a rape-and-abduction case lodged against him earlier this month.
Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Jyoti Dongre issued the warrant on an application filed by the local police.
The court posted the matter for next hearing on March 19.
On February 17, the police had announced a reward of Rs 10,000 for sharing information about Katare's whereabouts.
The police had also announced a reward for Vikramjit Singh, an aide of the complainant in the case.
On January 24, the police had said that Singh was untraceable, following the arrest of a 21-year-old woman, a journalism student, for allegedly trying to extort money from Katare, the Ater MLA, by threatening to file a rape case against him.

The woman, while in jail, had alleged that Katare raped her several times, according to the police.

The MLA was booked on charges of rape and abduction under the IPC on February 2.
The police had formed a nine-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe the allegations against Katare.
Denying the allegations, the Congress leader had claimed that the woman and her aide had met him a couple of times and that they tried to extort money from him.
Katare had alleged that the woman was calling him since January 17 and threatening to file a rape case against him if he did not pay Rs 2 crore to settle the issue.

On January 24, the woman was arrested after she allegedly demanded Rs 2 crore from Katare and came forward to collect the first instalment of Rs 5 lakh, the police had said.
She was granted bail on February 5.