FPJ Legal: Nitesh Rane moves Bombay HC seeking pre-arrest bail in attempt to murder case against him

BJP MLA Nitesh Rane has approached the Bombay High Court seeking pre-arrest bail in an alleged attempt to murder case in connection with an attack on one Santosh Parab (44).

Nitesh, son of Union minister Narayan Rane, represents the Kankavali Assembly seat in the Sindhudurg district of the Konkan region.

His advocate Sangram Desai said that they have filed the application for pre-arrest bail in the HC. It is likely to come up for hearing on Tuesday.

Nitesh has approached the HC after a session court at Sindhudurg rejected his plea last week.

According to Nitesh, he has been falsely implicated in the case and was being targeted due to political rivalry.

The plea said that Rane had allegedly mocked Shiv Sena minister Aaditya Thackeray, which could be the reason for the case against him.

His lawyer had claimed before the sessions court that Nitesh was being framed up in a false case so that he could not campaign in the election of the district cooperative bank.

However, the prosecution had opposed the plea stating that the police have collected enough evidence to show that Nitesh Rane was behind the attack. The purpose of the attack was to terrorize people. It further claimed in the lower court that four crimes had previously been registered against Rane. They claimed to have found evidence such as photographs of Rane with another accused.

It was further submitted that Rane’s custody was important to find out his participation in economic or political crime for confirmation of the arrested accused.

FIR was registered at Kankavali police station against Nitesh under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. The case pertains to his alleged involvement in the attack on local Shiv Sena activist Santosh Parab in during the ongoing campaign for the Sindhudurg District Central Cooperative Bank election.

After the FIR was filed, BJP minister Narayan Rane claimed that his son was being falsely implicated in the case and the Maharashtra government is misusing its power. Rane was arrested in August 2021 after his alleged “slap” remarks against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. That had led to a war of words between Rane and Shiv Sena.