Congress MLA Nitesh Narayan Rane has surrendered before the Kankavali police. An FIR has also been registered against him and 40-50 supporters under Sections 353, 342, 332, 324, 323, 120(A), 147, 143, 504, 506 of IPC. He & his supporters threw mud on an engineer earlier today, reported ANI.
Quoting Dikshit Gedam, SP, Sindhudurg, the news agency reported that Rane and two of his supporters had been arrested and search for other accused was on. They will be produced in the court tomorrow
This was after police said that they were looking for Rane, son of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane, after he was caught on camera throwing mud with slime on an engineer on the Mumbai-Goa highway.
The video of Rane and his supporters assaulting the engineer, identified as Prakash Shedekar, evoked angry reactions on social media with users demanding Rane’s immediate arrest. Rane and his supporters, according to news agency ANI, later tied Shedekar to the bridge over Gad River in Kankavali.
Rane was there reportedly to carry out an inspection of potholes on the highway during the rainy season. He was also being accompanied by Kankavli Municipal Council President and activists of the NDA-affiliated Maharashtra Swabhiman Party (MSP).
@NiteshNRane again!!
humiliated government employee, threatned & poured bucket full of wet mud on him. He & his karyakartas were unhappy with the remaining road work. Is it the only way left to get work done from gov staff????
reports @Aruneel_S pic.twitter.com/xWnz2nhZbO— Siddhant Mishra (@siddhantvm) July 4, 2019
They took the engineer to task for the bad condition of roads and how it was causing inconvenience to commuters during the rainy season. In the video, a companion of Rane is seen pouring bucket loads of mud and slime on the engineer before they allegedly tied him to the bridge.
Later speaking to reporters, Rane justified his action.
नितेश राणे का गुरुर-
अधिकारियों को लगता है कि सब बिके हुए है, राणे को खरीदना इनकी औकात में नही है, अधिकारियों को जो मस्ती चढ़ी है कैसे सबक सिखाना है हमें पता है @BJP4Maharashtra @INCMaharashtra @vinodjagdale80#niteshrane #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/c9kOId8oI9— Deepak Dubey *DD* (@deepakdubey_dd) July 4, 2019
Rane’s criminal act of assaulting a public servant comes just days after a BJP MLA in Madhya Pradesh was caught on camera hitting a civic body official using a cricket bat. He was later arrested and sent to jail. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed his disgust and demanded his expulsion from the party.
