Surat, July 14: Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice president and former MLA from Kutch, Jayanti Bhanushali resigned from all party posts after a 21-year-old girl alleged him of raping her several times by promising her of getting admission to a fashion designing course. Bhanushali in his written application to state BJP president Jitu Vaghani offered resignation. In the letter he was resigning from all the posts till the time he comes out clean.

The state president accepted his resignation. However, the 53-year-old leader claimed that it was a conspiracy to defame him. Bhanushali had represented Abdasa Assembly constituency in Kutch from 2007 to 2012. In the letter, Bhanushali said, “It appears that this application (to police) is a conspiracy to malign my image. Baseless allegations have been made against me and my family. Till the time I am cleared of the charges, I urge the party to relieve me of my responsibilities.”

The 21-year-old victim is a resident of Surat. On July 10 she submitted an application for registering a rape case against Bhanushali. Surat police commissioner Satish Sharma said that no FIR had been registered in the case yet. The application has been forwarded to Kapodra police station in the city for further action. She also alleged that one Bhanushali’s assistants shot video of the incident on a cell phone with the intention of blackmailing. The girl also accused that Bhanushali raped her on several occasions since November.

(With inputs from PTI)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 14, 2018 04:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).