Maharashtra: Ex-Shiv Sena (UBT) MP, Family Booked Under Anti-Superstition Law
The daughter-in-law has filed a domestic violence complaint against her in-laws at the Kapurbawdi police station in Thane: Reports
MUMBAI: The police have booked former Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Vinayak Raut, his wife, and councillor son Gitesh Raut under the anti-superstition law. The case has been registered based on complaint by his daughter-in-law, who has alleged the family took her to occult practitioners over what she claimed were infertility issues of her husband. She has also alleged torture and assault over years after her marriage in 2017. The police have also booked two alleged sorcerers, Firoz and Qazi, in the case.
The daughter-in-law has filed a domestic violence complaint against her in-laws at the Kapurbawdi police station in Thane. However, Mr. Raut has dismissed the allegations as false.
According to the complaint, Girija Raut had registered with a matrimonial matchmaking agency in 2016. Subsequently, her marriage was arranged with Gitesh. The complaint claimed that after their marriage in December 2017, she was provided false information about owning a bungalow in Mumbai. Afterward, her husband avoided having marital relations with her. She also alleged that when she confronted him about this, she was subjected to verbal abuse, physical assault, and mental harassment.
Furthermore, she stated that black magic and horrific rituals were performed with the help of two individuals from Sindhudurg, Kazi Baba and Firoz Baba.
“Horrific rituals were performed on me. Gitesh and I got married in December 2017. After that, until September 2018, we had no physical relations. Our families sat down and discussed this. It was then decided that we would work on this issue after the Ganpati festival. But right after returning from Ganpati, an incident occurred after which they started horrific ritualistic treatments. They continued this from September 2018 to 2022. Along with the horrific rituals, despite having hypothyroidism, they forced me to take anti-depression medication, the daughter-in-law said.
When asked what she meant by horrific rituals, she said, “They would take me to various self-proclaimed godmen (babas). Those godmen would perform treatments in their own ways. Someone would wave a live rooster over my body to ward off evil. Someone else would wave dough dolls and pieces of meat over me. They would take my unwashed clothes and pull my hair to perform exorcism rituals. They would make me drink a glassful of holy ash mixed with water from before the goddess's idol. To hide the fact that Vinayak Raut’s son Gitesh is impotent, they did all this and ruined my life.”
Denying the allegations, Mr Raut questioned why Girija kept quiet for years. “The complaint states that aghori (black magic/sinister) practices were being performed from 2018 to 2022. They are filing a complaint in 2026 for an alleged injustice that happened in 2022; there is definitely something fishy about this. She herself wrote in the complaint that her parents used to be with her,” he said.
The former MP said his daughter-in-law and son are not living together for the last three years and she has been demanding money and property. “Girija Raut filed for divorce last month. Our lawyers and her lawyers held a few meetings to reach a settlement. In the first meeting, they demanded Rs 5 crores and a 3 BHK flat. They also demanded an automatic car and Rs 2 lakh per month for expenses. We did not accept these demands,” Mr. Raut said.
