MUMBAI: Bombay high court on Monday rejected a plea for pre-arrest bail filed by BJP MLA Nitesh Rane. It however continued interim protection of no coercive action against him till January 27.
Rane, a member of legislative assembly (MLA) belonging to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is now expected to go in appeal against the rejection order.
He had sought protection against arrest in connection with an attempt to murder case registered last month in Sindhudurg. His senior counsel Niteen Pradhan had argued before Justice C V Bhadang said the invoking of an offence of attempt to murder was “preposterous" and filed only as an “outcome of the lampooning" that Aaditya Thackeray had faced outside Vidhan Bhavan last month when BJP leaders were protesting, he said.
In his submissions, the special public prosecutor Sudeep Pasbola argued that a co-accused Sachin Satpute was arrested and he was a close associate of Rane. He said Satpute’s statement was recorded and it was found that all co-accused except Rane were in telephonic contact with each other and the police have the call data record.
The investigating officer, in his affidavit before the HC, had said that Rane has contacted Satpute, who is a close confidante to whom he had entrusted this work of assaulting the complainant, through the mobile phone of his personal assistant Rakesh Parab." He had added that Rane “deftly covered his tracks in order to distance himself from… Satpute."
Pradhan said merely having call data records without having the contents of the call is prosecution on the basis of surmises and conjecture. He said nothing was recovered from any of the accused, though the police are trying to claim that it was a case of contract killing.
Co-accused Manish Dalvi who also sought pre-arrest bail argued through his senior Ashok Mundargi that he was earlier named a witness and it is not explained why or how he was made an accused.
The HC granted pre-arrest bail to Dalvi in the case.
