Jayesh Patel (66), a Gujarat BJP leader and founder-president of the privately owned Parul University in Vadodara, was booked Saturday for rape after a 22-year-old nursing student of the university filed an FIR against him.

The complainant also accused the rector of the women’s hostel of the nursing institute of abetting the crime, police said. The rector, Bhavna Patel, has also been booked. Both Jayesh and Bhavna are absconding.

According to Vadodara (rural) SP Saurabh Tolambiya, the victim has said in the FIR that Jayesh raped her on Friday night at his residence near the women’s hostel. She has said that Bhavna took her to Jayesh’s house. Jayesh allegedly threatened to rusticate and fail her if she revealed the alleged crime, the police said.

The victim has stated in the FIR that on June 17, she gathered courage and confided in her fiance about the incident. It was with his support that she called the women’s helpline number (Abhayam 181).

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S G Waghela, PSI of Waghodia police station, said, “The police have booked both the accused under IPC Sections 376 (committing rape), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 114 (abettor present when offence is committed). We have formed a team to trace Jayesh Patel and the rector; both have gone underground to evade arrest.”

In the past, Jayesh Patel had contested state assembly elections twice as Congress candidate against sitting BJP MLA Madhu Srivastava, and lost on both occasions. He had defected from the Congress to join the BJP in 2014.

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