The Shirdi police have booked Rajendra Jagtap, head of the Saibaba Temple run by Shirdi Saibaba Sansthan Trust (SSST), for allegedly molesting a woman devotee from Rahata taluka in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar.
Acting on a complaint by a victim woman, the Shirdi police registered an offence against Jagtap under sections 354 (molestation), 323 (Voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation).
Following the victim woman’s complaint, Jagtap has absconded from the pilgrim town of Shirdi. “We are looking for Jagtap. He has been missing since yesterday. We hope to find him soon,” Investigation Officer attached to the Shirdi town police station B F Maghade said.
The victim woman, who incidentally is a taluka Congress office bearer, said in her complaint that she along with her women friends had gone to Saibaba temple for darshan on Thursday night.
“At that time, Saibaba palanquin procession was on. At around 8.30 pm, the temple official (Jagtap) came close to me and my other friends. He touched and my friends misbehaved with us and threw me out of the temple premises. He threatened me not to be seen on the temple premises once again in future,” the complainant said.
The victim woman, in her complaint, also claimed that this was not the fitst time that Jagtap was misbehaving with women inside the temple.
Jagtap has been working with the temple trust for the past 25 years. He has been in-charge of the temple for the past four years.