A local court in Sindhudurg district on Thursday quashed the anticipatory bail plea of Kankavli MLA and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nitesh Rane, the son of Union Minister Narayan Rane — in an attempt to murder case.
The court gave its decision after a marathon two-day hearing, amid a tense stand-off between Shiv Sena and the BJP supporters of the Rane family outside the courtroom. A week earlier, a Kankavli resident named Santosh Parab had filed a police complaint claiming he was assaulted by certain persons linked with the Kankavli MLA.
Mr. Rane’s lawyer said they were likely to move the Bombay High Court at the earliest.
Mr. Nitesh Rane has been incommunicado for over four days now and police teams have been formed to trace and arrest him.
The court’s quashing of Nitesh’s bail plea was followed by riotous celebrations on part of Sena workers, who burst firecrackers and proclaimed that the stranglehold of the Rane family in Sindhudurg was now shaken.
The incident is being viewed as yet another acrimonious chapter in the bitter, long-running personal feud between the Thackeray and the Rane families, and in a larger context, the power struggle between the Shiv Sena and the BJP in the Konkan region.
Notice to Narayan Rane
The Sindhudurg police on Wednesday had issued a notice to Narayan Rane, who is the Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises , to present his MLA son Nitesh before the police in connection to allegedly ‘murder’ the complainant Parab.
The senior Rane was also asked to be present himself at Kankavli police station (in Sindhudurg district) to record his statement in connection with the case, which the Union Minister did not do so. Following which, the police apparently pasted the notice at Mr. Rane’s residence.
The Union Minister accused the ruling Shiv Sena of behaving with malice towards his son, remarking on Wednesday at a press conference that “he was not a fool to reveal Nitesh’s whereabouts" and that “no big crime” had taken place and nor was his son “a terrorist”.
Devendra Fadnavis, the BJP’s Leader of Opposition, lashed out against the Maha Vikas Aghadi government for its ‘vendetta politics’ against Mr. Rane and Nitesh Rane, while asserting that the Sindhudurg police could not demand that a person over 65 years of age (Mr. Rane) present himself at police station.
