A look-out circular has been issued against BJP leader Nitesh Narayan Rane and his mother Neelam Rane by Pune City Police on September 3, in a loan-related case in the DHFL matter. This development occurred after the high-octane drama of the arrest of Union Minister Narayan Rane for his ‘tight slap’ threat to CM Thackeray and the BJP’s attack against the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government for acting wilfully.
Pune Crime Branch has sent this notice in the case of default in the repayment of a Rs 65-cr loan borrowed from the DHFL, after a complaint filed by the latter.
Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil said, “The state government had received a letter from the Centre which was forwarded to the Pune police. One of the organisations had some pending loan amount with them and the matter reached the Central government. The Centre sent a letter to the state government to take appropriate action, which has been taken.”
Artline Properties Pvt Ltd had borrowed Rs 25 crore from DHFL. Neelam Rane was a co-applicant for Artline Properties Pvt Ltd. A complaint was lodged for non-repayment of the loan.
Besides this, Neelam Hotels Pvt Ltd had borrowed Rs 40 crore from DHFL. The company had lodged a complaint for the non-repayment of loan.
BJP legislator Nitesh Rane expressed surprise over the look-out notice issued by Pune Police, citing that their account with DHFL is with their Mumbai branch. “We had given an official letter to the concerned agency five months ago that we want to settle the loan. Therefore, such a notice is of no use. We are going to approach Bombay High Court and challenge the look-out notice. It is not the problem of Narayan Rane's family, now it will be the problem of the crime branch, it will be the problem of Maha Vikas Aghadi,” he said.
Further, BJP legislator Atul Bhatkhalkar has claimed that the state government was acting out of vengeance. The action came after Rane’s arrest.
The look-out notice against Rane’s wife and son is expected to further heat up politics in the state. Already, Rane, the BJP and the MVA partners have been pitted against each other, especially after the recently held Jan Ashirwad Yatra. The BJP and Rane are targeting the Shiv Sena ahead of the ensuing elections to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation. On the other hand, the Shiv Sena is aggressively countering allegations levelled against it. Observers say more fireworks are expected in the run-up to the BMC elections.
