Thane, April 29: A Thane sessions court has granted anticipatory bail to a businessman accused of allegedly sexually exploiting a woman on the pretext of marriage and later allegedly threatening to circulate her private photographs and videos on social media.
According to the prosecution, the accused, Yogesh Mundhra, had allegedly developed a relationship with the complainant between July 2024 and August 2025 and had allegedly recorded intimate videos and photographs of her.
It was alleged that he promised marriage to the woman and engaged in physical relations on that pretext, later threatening to make the content public if she did not comply with his demands.
Defence cites delay in FIR
The defence argued that the allegations were false and motivated, pointing out that the FIR was lodged in April 2026 despite the alleged incidents dating back to mid-2024.
It was further submitted that a similar complaint had been filed earlier in September 2025 at Rabale MIDC police station, but no FIR was registered after an inquiry found no substance in the allegations.
In his submissions, the defence contended that the applicant had been falsely implicated with an ulterior motive and that the allegations in the FIR were vague and contradictory. It was also argued that there was an unexplained delay in lodging the FIR.
The defence further claimed that the applicant, a small business owner and social worker, had earlier filed complaints against a civic official over alleged corruption, suggesting a possible grudge against him.
Court notes observations
His bail plea also read that he, being a small business owner as well as social worker, “In 2020 he came to know that, Assistant Commissioner, of TMC, Mr Manoj Aher was involved in various instance of cheating, corruption, criminal misconduct, forgery, illegal allotments of municipal properties, hence applicant made various applications with certain authorities against said Mahesh Aher, thereby he had grudge against applicant…. On March 25, 2026, Mahesh Aher circulated a video on social media wherein present complainant seen narrating the incident. However, in said entire narration, she nowhere mention the incidences as mentioned in present FIR. Which shows that the present FIR is entirely a false and fabricated one,” reads the grounds of seeking bail, as mentioned in the five-paged order copy.
“Apart from it, the complainant had stated in complaint about the first incident happened with her in June 2024. If it is so, the informant is major girl and she know the consequence of the act of accused. However, she never took steps against the accused for the said alleged incident. It is an undigestible that, when the complainant herself was working with social worker, her cousin too had she kept mum since the first incident till lodging of the incident,” the court observed.
Bail granted with conditions
The court further held, “Considering all these facts, in my opinion, the custodial interrogation of applicant is not necessary. However, at the same time, it is necessary to direct applicant to attend concerned police station and co-operate in investigation.”
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Holding that custodial interrogation was not required, the court granted anticipatory bail and directed that in the event of arrest, the accused be released on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000 with one surety of the like amount.
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