Shiv Sena leader Sushma Andhare on Friday sharpened her attack on former Maharashtra State Commission for Women chairperson Rupali Chakankar, alleging that Chakankar had earlier given music director Anu Malik a clean chit in a sexual harassment matter and that her son later appeared in a film backed by Malik’s production banner. The charge has opened a new flank in a controversy already engulfing Chakankar after her resignation from the women’s panel amid the Ashok Kharat case. Addressing reporters, Andhare linked the allegation to what she described as a wider pattern of influence and misuse of institutional office. She said women from the film world had complained against Malik during the MeToo period, but justice was not delivered. She further alleged that Soham Chakankar, Rupali Chakankar’s son, later got work in a film produced by Malik, raising questions, in her telling, about whether official decisions and personal benefit had crossed paths. The allegation remains just that at this stage; no investigating agency has publicly announced findings tying the two matters together.
When contacted by PTI, Malik rejected any suggestion of impropriety and said he had first received a clean chit from the National Commission for Women and then from the Maharashtra women’s commission. That response is significant because the older case has a paper trail. In January 2020, the National Commission for Women closed the sexual harassment case against Malik, saying substantial evidence had not been produced, while also indicating it could revisit the matter if fresh material emerged. Some complainants and supporters had disputed that closure and said testimonies had been submitted, underscoring how contested the matter remained even after the file was shut.
The Maharashtra dispute, however, is not unfolding in a vacuum. Chakankar resigned as chairperson of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women last week after political pressure mounted over her alleged links to self-styled godman Ashok Kharat, who has been arrested in a sexual assault and rape case in Nashik. Opposition parties and activists have accused Chakankar of proximity to Kharat and of failing to uphold the independence expected of the women’s body. Chakankar has denied wrongdoing and has said she was being unfairly targeted, but the episode has already triggered wider demands for an inquiry and for a non-political figure to head the commission in future.
Friday’s allegation shows how quickly the controversy has moved beyond the Kharat case into a broader argument over credibility, accountability and conflict of interest in public institutions meant to protect women. For the opposition, Andhare’s new claim helps frame Chakankar not as a leader caught in one damaging association, but as someone whose conduct across multiple episodes deserves scrutiny. For Chakankar’s camp, the timing also suggests a political escalation designed to deepen the damage after her exit from office and to widen pressure on figures linked to the ruling establishment in Maharashtra.
What can be stated firmly is narrower than the rhetoric. Multiple reports confirm that Andhare made the allegation publicly on Friday; that Malik said he had been cleared by the NCW and the Maharashtra commission; that the NCW closed its case in 2020 for lack of substantial evidence; and that Chakankar stepped down from the state women’s panel amid intense fallout over the Kharat matter. What is not yet publicly established is documentary proof, now in the open domain, showing a quid pro quo between the handling of complaints against Malik and Soham Chakankar’s appearance in a film linked to Malik. That distinction is likely to matter if the dispute moves from the political arena into legal proceedings.