According to the police, Patil had called the victim, 28, to the Tara Punjab hotel in eastern Chembur area on the pretext of getting her job done and then allegedly molested her. When the victim screamed, guests in the hotel rushed to her rescue and began bashing Patil, after which he was handed over to the police.

Speaking to the media, the victim said: “I had visited the state secretariat a fortnight ago to meet Gavit, relating to the job transfer of her friend — a nurse in a government hospital. It was here that she met Patil, who assured her that he would get her job done. “Patil then told me that apart from the transfer work, he would help in getting things done in government nursing colleges. He then took my cell number,” she said.

The woman added: “On Friday, Patil called on my cell and said he wanted to meet me to discuss the transfer of my friend and first asked me to meet him in some place in suburb Dadar. When I refused, he agreed to meet at the Tara Punjab hotel, a family restaurant, and talk during dinner. It was here that he tried to molest me. I shouted for help and people in the restaurant came to my rescue,” she added.

Despite several attempt by Arab News to get in touch with Gavit for his comments, he remained unavailable.

Surprisingly, even the website of the state police — which gives details of arrested persons all over the state on a daily basis — blacked out information about the arrest of Gavit’s aide.

A senior NCP minister, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said as if scams in Gavit’s department were not enough, the molestation case has caused acute embarrassment to the NCP. He said that in the past Gavit has been controversial and target of social activist Anna Hazare for corruption. Now Gavit has given another opportunity to Hazare, who is leading the battle for the Lokpal Bill, to target the NCP chief Sharad Pawar and the party.