THE Pune police have registered a case of rape against Jalgaon native Praful Lodha, who has already been arrested in Mumbai for allegedly sexually abusing two minor girls and raping a woman on the pretext of getting them jobs, officials said on Tuesday. A 23-year-old woman alleged that Lodha called her to a hotel here in May, assured he would get a job for her husband and sought sexual favours in return, a police official said. “But when the woman refused, he allegedly threatened her and raped her,” an official from Bavdhan police station at Pimpri Chinchwad in Pune district said.

 

A case was registered against Lodha on July 17 under BNS sections for rape and criminal intimidation and further probe was on, the official said. Lodha (62), who hails from Jalgaon in Maharashtra, is said to have a close association with some politicians. The Mumbai police earlier this month arrested him for allegedly sexually abusing two 16-year-old girls and raping a woman on the pretext of giving them jobs, an official said on Monday.