Nirmal Nagar police said Chavan raped the victim after giving her a false assurance that he would arrange to have her employed as private secretary in a reputed firm. Senior inspector B S Khambe said Chavan had also promised the girl, who is educated up to the matriculation level, that he would marry her.

On these assurances, the corporator forced the girl to have sex with him at a house in Goregaon and at an unknown place in Golibar area several times between November 11, 1998 and February 7 this year, police informed. The girl was in Chavan's custody during this period.

On Monday afternoon, the victim's mother approached Nirmal Nagar police and complained that Chavan had threatened to kill her and her brother if she didn't allow her daughter to have sex with him.

Charged under Sections 376, 420 and 506 (partII) of the Indian Penal Code, Chavan was today remanded to police custody till March 8 by metropolitan magistrate M S Belose of the 32nd Court, Bandra.

Police revealed that Chavan had forced the girl to undergo a pregnancy test at a local nursing home on January 22 this year. However, discrepancies in the case persist because police have still been unable to establish the results of the test or of the medical examination of the victim, which took place at the Police Hospital at Nagpada on Monday.

Chavan was taken to Bhabha Hospital at Bandra (west) this morning for medical examination. Police are awaiting the report of his examination too.The Congress corporator of ward number 83, who is already married and has three children, said: ``I have been framed by my political rivals.''

He, however, maintained that he had been making love to the girl with her consent. Chavan was elected to the corporation on a Congress ticket in February 1997.

Congress leader in the BMC Kisan Jadhav said the news of Chavan'sarrest had come as a surprise to him, and it made him wonder if the whole matter was politically motivated. However, he added: ``The incident, if true, is condemnable."