Hearing deferred on Nilesh Rane bail plea

The Bombay high court on Thursday, without granting any relief, deferred hearing on a pre-arrest bail plea filed by former Congress MP Nilesh Rane in a case of alleged kidnapping and assault on a party worker. The state, however, has told the court that the police may not arrest him till next date of hearing i.e. May 17, though the judge did not take this statement on record.

Justice M.S. Karnik deferred the hearing after Mr Rane’s lawyer Rajendra Shirodkar told the court that he had just got a copy of the order rejecting his anticipatory bail application by the sessions court in district Khed. However, the judge said that he was not inclined to give any interim protection to Mr Rane until next date of hearing.

Mr Rane’s lawyer said he wanted to amend the petition because the sessions court, while rejecting the bail plea on May 9, had made certain observations in his favour.

The order had said investigations were over and custodial interrogation was no longer required in this case. Public prosecutor Arfan Said, however, opposed his bail plea.

It may be recalled that the Thane police had registered a case of kidnapping and arrest against Mr Rane, his personal assistant Tushar Panchal and bodyguard Manish Singh. It was alleged that they had kidnapped Congress president of Chiplun Taluka Sandeep Sawant in April.

According to the first information report, Mr Rane and his accomplices had allegedly kidnapped Mr Sawant and assaulted him on way to Mumbai for not attending a rally called by Mr Rane at Chiplun in Ratnagiri district to demand reservation for the Maratha community.

Mr Sawant was allegedly confined to a house at Andheri in Mumbai and later let off. Mr Sawant had told Mr Rane that he could not attend the rally because his mother had taken ill in a nearby village and he had to rush there to be with her.