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CRIME:
SEX SCANDAL
Base Instincts
Satara, a sleepy town in Maharashtra, wakes up to
a racket involving sexual exploitation of girls lured by the promise of
film roles
By Himanshi Dhawan
 It
could be mistaken for the script of a C-grade Bollywood potboiler. Only,
in this case, the end was not as anti-climactic. In March, Satara, a small
town in Maharashtra, was rocked by a sex scandal that threatens to plunge
the conservative pensioners' paradise into an image crisis.
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lOOSE PLOT: (Top far left) Gaikwad,
Vanarase and Chavan; (top) Pawar; and Purohit’s 14-room lodge in Satara |
The disgrace came to light on March 22, leading
to the arrest of 24 people on charges of blackmail and sexual exploitation.
The main accused-Prithviraj Chavan, 46, Sanjay Pawar, 33, and Mrudula
Vanarase, 20-had a simple modus operandi to lure young women. After promising
them roles in films, the girls, aged between 18 and 25 years, were induced
to pose in revealing clothes, often under the influence of alcohol. The
photographs were then used to blackmail them into offering favours to
men who claimed to be film financiers. These included jaunts not just
in seedy Satara lodges but also in the neighbouring Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar
areas. Besides being threatened with disclosure to their families and
the media, the girls were stalked and even beaten up when they refused
to comply.
According to the police, no monetary transactions
took place as the abusers were aware of the girls' exploitation. However,
rumours abound that many of the arrested people, including contractors
and shopowners, reportedly thought the victims were commercial sex workers
and paid them for their services. In fact, several businessmen have left
town fearing that they will be targeted even as the police deny that a
"witchhunt" is on.
The police claim undisputed proof of blackmail
and abuse since March 2000 and suspect the racket might have begun as
early as August 1999 and are now scanning the cellular phone records of
both Chavan and Pawar. A videotape has also been reportedly retrieved
from Chavan's house though the police deny the claim. Chavan, an electronics
repair shopowner-turned-film director, claims to have been in the film
business since 1989 and even floated the Srinath Cine Film Society. Though
he does not have a single film release to his credit, in order to bolster
his image as a big-league director Chavan keeps two photo albums of an
under-production Marathi film, Heerva Shalu, starring well-known Marathi
actors Reshma Tipnis and Ashok Shinde.
Assisting Chavan was Pawar, a former owner of
a cosmetics shop, and Vanarase, a first-year college student who is also
Chavan's cousin. Vanarase is believed to have convinced young girls that
the duo would give them a break in films. Others who helped rope in girls
included Mangal Gaikwad, a midwife at the Satara Civil Hospital, and Tarkeshwari
Wankhede, who ran Plus Green Investments that acted as a front.
The police chanced upon the racket while investigating
a fraud, wherein a local person was cheated of Rs 11,000 after being promised
a bank job by Chavan. On March 20, a local paper carried a new item alleging
that Pawar and Chavan were involved in defrauding people. During investigation,
the police received a complaint from a girl who claimed to have been blackmailed
and sexually abused by the duo.
Three more complaints were lodged within a week
and till date the police have registered seven complaints. Though the
police are tightlipped about the women's identity, it is believed that
the victims included a dance teacher who has acted in local theatre productions,
another who is training to be a nurse and one who was lured with the promise
of a bank job. The girls also alleged that the duo took money from them
on the plea that they were running short of funds for the film. "They
were asked to give exorbitant amounts but the girls could not afford it.
Even so, some of them shelled out as much as Rs 50,000," says Superintendent
of Police R. Pawar.
The girls were photographed under the pretext
of shooting for a film. According to Dhirendra Raj Purohit, who owns a
14-room lodge in the town, Chavan would book rooms for his crew. "They
would be accompanied by crew members, including cameramen and actors who
were not residents of Satara," adds Purohit. The other haunt, Hotel
Godhan, whose owner has been arrested and the unlicensed lodge sealed,
is a short distance away from the main city.
Meanwhile, speculation is rife over the role
of the girls who, local people believe, were willing accomplices and blew
the whistle only when they realised they were being duped by the duo.
"It is hard to believe that these girls were under pressure for more
than a year and were none the wiser for it," says a social worker
requesting anonymity. The speculation notwithstanding, Nirmala Sawant
Prabhwarkar of the Maharashtra State Women's Commission has sent a report
to the chief minister, requesting that a special court oversee and wind
up the case within two years.
The investigation has been further complicated
by the death of Sambhaji Jadhav, cashier of the Srinath Nagarik Sahakari
Cooperative Bank on March 31. Jadhav went missing for two days before
his body was found from a canal outside Satara. Jadhav's death may be
significant because bank Director Dutta Uttekar and Chavan have been found
to have a joint account which was used to fund the latter's films. Uttekar
was also an office-bearer of Chavan's cine society. Though one of the
prime suspects, he was brought in for questioning only towards the end
of the week because of alleged political pressure. After collapsing during
questioning, Uttekar is recuperating at Satara's Sahayadri Hospital.
If the past week is anything to go by, the scandal
is still unfolding. The police deny political pressure, but even if there
is, the local people are determined to see the guilty nailed. In a town
that is yet to discover pubs and where raised hemlines still raise a brow,
the shameful event will be fodder for gossip for a long time.
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