Maharahtra court rejects MLA Nitesh Rane's bail plea

District and Additional Sessions Judge R B Rote denied bail to BJP MLA Nitesh Rane in an attempt to murder case on Tuesday.

Mumbai: A court in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra on Tuesday denied bail to BJP MLA Nitesh Rane in an attempt to murder case.

District and Additional Sessions Judge R B Rote rejected Rane's bail application.

The Supreme Court had last Thursday directed Maharashtra Police not to arrest Rane for 10 days in the attempt to murder case registered in Sindhudurg district.

The apex court, while disposing of the pre-arrest bail plea of the MLA, who is the son of Union minister Narayan Rane, had asked him to surrender before the trial court in the meanwhile, and seek regular bail in the matter.

Earlier, the Bombay High Court had on January 17 refused to grant pre-arrest bail to Nitesh Rane in the case, noting that a balance was needed between conflicting considerations of personal liberty and a proper investigation in the matter.

The case pertains to alleged attack on Shiv Sena activist Santosh Parab during campaigning for the Sindhudurg District Co-operative Bank elections in December 2021.

The MLA had on multiple occasions claimed he was being targeted by Maharashtra's ruling party (Shiv Sena, which heads the MVA government) as it felt insulted and hurt by an alleged incident of mocking outside the state legislature complex last month.

A Shiv Sena MLA had alleged Nitesh Rane had made 'meow meow' sounds looking in the direction of Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray, while he was going inside the Vidhan Bhavan building in Mumbai on December 23, 2021, during the winter session of the legislature.

The Kankavli police in Sindhudurg had earlier opposed Nitesh Rane's application, stating that it was fallacious to say that he was being targeted due to political reasons or because of a 'dharna' he had held outside the Vidhan Bhavan on December 23, 2021.

The Rane family was associated with the Shiv Sena for long before falling out with the party.

PTI