Union Minister Narayan Rane Granted Bail In FIR Over "Slap" Remark Against Maharashtra CM

A local court in Raigad District of Maharashtra granted bail to Union Minister Narayan Rane in one of the four FIRs for his "slap" remark against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. 

Magistrate Shaikhbabaso Patil granted bail following arguments by the prosecution and Rane's lawyer Rajendra Shirodkar, Senior Advocate. 

The prosecution sought his custody for seven days for investigation as there was possibly a conspiracy to tarnish the Chief Minister's image. 

Shirodkar contended that guidelines of Arnesh Kumar were not followed and Rane was not served with notice under section 41A of the CrPC despite being booked for offences punishable with less than seven years imprisonment.

He further argued that Rane was a known public figure and would co-operate with investigators. 

The Magistrate first refused police custody, following which Rane's lawyers sought bail.

He is to be released after furnishing a surety of Rs 15,000, and he has also been asked not to repeat these actions in the future. The court refused police custody on the grounds that the case diary was not properly maintained.

The Mahad MIDC police arrested the BJP leader, who joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet in July, under sections 153A (1)(provoke to riot), 505(2), 504, 506(criminal intimidation), 189 (threat of injury to public servant) of the IPC earlier in the day.

The three other FIRs are registered in Pune, Nashik and Thane.  

Earlier, the Bombay High Court refused to entertain an urgent mentioning by Nikam seeking directions to the registry to allow him to file the quashing petition based on just a scanned copy of the plea and list the case for hearing on Tuesday. 

Nikam said Rane was arrested without a notice under section 41A of the CrPc despite being charged with offences punishable with less than seven years imprisonment.  

"We cannot interfere with the procedure of the registry. However, if there is an urgency we will list the matter on the next day," Justice Shinde said. 

Rane, who was on his Jan Ashirwad Yatra in Raigad, on Monday alleged that Thackeray forgot the year of independence during his August 15 address and had to check with his aide mid-speech. "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," Rane said.