Rahul Shewale, a Lok Sabha member from the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction, on Tuesday, moved the Bombay High Court seeking to restrain a woman from posting defamatory and false statements against him on social media.
A 33-year-old Dubai-based woman had sought an FIR to be registered against Shewale accusing him of raping her under the pretext of marriage.
She had put up various social media posts and had tweeted her complaint to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as well.
Shewale's plea, filed through advocate Akhilesh Chaubey, sought the court's directions to the government to take action against the woman for spreading defamatory content against him on social media.
As per the petition, Shewale had met the woman in February 2020 through a close friend, and he claimed to have helped her financially, but she later started harassing him for more money.
The MP has alleged that the woman had duped him of Rs 56 lakh, and when he refused to give her more money, she allegedly threatened him.
The petition further claimed that the woman was now levelling allegations of rape against him and making false and defamatory statements on social media.
"These statements are made to disparage the petitioner and to bring about mistrust in the eyes of the public," the plea said.
Shewale claimed that the woman had "intentionally maligned his image and on behest of somebody", and was using his "name to increase and take attention of the social media followers".
