Mumbai: On Tuesday, the Metropolitan Magistrate court issued a bailable warrant against BJP MLA Nitesh Rane as he failed to appear for the hearing in the defamation case filed by Shivsena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut.
The defamation case was filed by Raut on June 9, and after a preliminary verification of the complaint, the court had issued the process against Rane on October 16. In the order issuing the process, the magistrate court had directed Rane to be present for further hearings on Tuesday.
However, on Tuesday, neither Rane nor his lawyer attended the court proceedings. Consequently, Raut's lawyer filed a plea for a warrant against Rane. In response to the plea, the court issued a bailable warrant of ₹15,000 against Rane. The next hearing for the case is scheduled for December 15, where Rane is required to be present; failure to do so may lead to Raut's lawyer seeking a non-bailable warrant against Rane.
In May of this year, Nitesh Rane, the son of Union Minister Narayan Rane, allegedly referred to Raut as a "snake" who would allegedly switch allegiance from Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena to the NCP by June 10, 2023.
Raut, a Rajya Sabha member, responded by filing a complaint in the magistrate's court, seeking action against Rane for the purportedly "defamatory and blatantly false" remarks.
