Pune: Forgery And Fraud: Ex-NCP City Chief’s Son and In-Law Booked Over Suspicious Dealings With Accused Rapist
Pune, 3th May 2025: Following allegations of submitting forged documents as authentic, two more FIRs have been registered at Samarth Police Station—this time against Karan Mankar, son of former City Chief of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction, Deepak Mankar, and Karan’s father-in-law, Sukhen Sureshchandra Shah.
Earlier this month, Deepak Mankar himself was booked in connection with the same case. The complaints were officially filed by Senior Police Inspector Umesh Gitte of the Samarth Police Station. According to the details, one FIR is registered against Shantanu Samuel Kukde, Sukhen Shah, Raunak Bharat Jain, and others, while the second FIR is registered against Kukde, Karan Mankar, and additional associates.
Senior police officials confirmed that these new cases have been registered for concealing financial dealings with Kukde—who is also accused in a gang rape case involving a foreign national—and for allegedly misleading law enforcement authorities.
Shantanu Kukde has been charged in multiple serious offenses, including the alleged gang rape of a foreign woman under the pretext of offering her shelter. To date, five criminal cases have been registered against him at Samarth Police Station. Investigations revealed that over ₹100 crore worth of transactions were made through Kukde’s bank accounts.
Out of these, approximately ₹1.75 crore was transferred to bank accounts belonging to the Mankar father-son duo, while ₹6.52 crore was routed to an account belonging to Karan Mankar’s father-in-law, Sukhen Shah. These suspicious financial connections have prompted an ongoing investigation by Pune Police.
