Mumbai: Hours after a tweet by Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey in which BJP MP Navneet Rana was seen sipping tea in Mumbai's Khar Police Station - in contrast to her earlier letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla alleging mistreatment and having been denied basic amenities - Rana's lawyer Rizwan Merchant on Tuesday released a video statement, claiming the tweet had nothing to do with Rana's allegations. Merchant said the two episodes occurred at different times and in separate places.
"I just want to clarify that the tweet of Sanjay Pandey sir is in relation to the time which my client has spent in Khar Police Station after being arrested ...", Merchant is seen saying in the clip. He further clarifies that there is no doubt about the incident, or with officers present in the station offering her a cup of tea.
"They were there at the police station till 1 o'clock in the morning. Somewhere around 1 o'clock in the morning, they were transferred to the Santa Cruz Police Station, where they were detained for the rest of the night. The complaint of my client Navneet Kaur Rana of being subjected to ill-treatment is in relation to the detention not in Khar Police Station, but in the lock-up of the Santa Cruz Police Station," Merchant said.
Both BJP MP Rana and her husband, independent MLA Ravi Rana, were arrested on Sunday after announcing that they would recite Hanuman Chalisa in front of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's residence. Their dare came after a long sequence of events in the loudspeaker saga in Maharashtra, between Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray, and the ruling Shiv Sena.
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