Amid violent clashes between Shiv Sena and BJP workers in Maharashtra, Union Minister and BJP leader Narayan Rane on Tuesday was arrested by Ratnagiri police over his controversial remarks against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
The Nashik city Shiv Sena unit chief have filed a complaint against Rane, following his remarks, at the cyber police station.
An FIR was registered against the BJP leader in Nashik under several sections of IPC, 500, 505(2), and 153-B (1)(c), a police official said.
On Tuesday, the controversy boiled when more FIRs followed, lodged in different parts of Maharashtra.
The union minister approached a sessions court in Ratnagiri seeking pre-arrest bail. However, the court denied any relief to him, noting that the case was lodged in Nashik and hence, it did not have the jurisdiction to hear the application.
To seek protection from arrest, Rane even approached the Bombay high court against the FIRs registered against him in parts of Maharashtra.
A division bench comprising of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar, refused to hear the petition and said mentioning of the petition was not allowed and asked the lawyer to follow the procedure.
Shortly after the high court denied to hear an urgent petition, a team of Ratnagiri police officials arrested Rane.
Rane’s remarks on CM Thackeray
The BJP leader sparked off a row on Monday over his remarks about slapping chief minister Thackeray for what he claimed as the Shiv Sena chief’s ignorance of the year of India’s independence.
During ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ in Raigad, Rane said, “It is shameful that the CM does not know the year of independence. He leaned back to enquire about the count of years of independence during his speech. Had I been there, I would have given (him) a tight slap.”
The union minister claimed Thackeray forgot the year of nation’s independence during his August 15 speech to the people of Maharashtra. Thackeray should have checked the year of independence with his party members midway during the address that day, Rane said.
