Mumbai: Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane is extensively identified for his belligerent facet, together with throwing fish and dust at authorities officers, moving into altercations with cops and creating controversy over Muslims.
However this time, the legislation appears to have caught up with him.
A neighborhood courtroom on Monday sentenced Nitesh Rane to at least one month in jail for pouring mud on Nationwide Highways Authority of India engineer Prakash Shedekar in 2019. Mr. Rane was a Congress MLA on the time, however he joined the Bharatiya Janata Celebration in the identical 12 months earlier than the meeting elections. He was elected MLA on a BJP ticket.
Since then, his affect has expanded past his constituency, Sindhudurg. The Rane household is thought for being aggressive politicians and Nitesh’s father, former CM Narayan Rane, has additionally been embroiled in too many controversies.
“This can be a very previous difficulty. Nitesh Rane is thought for his distinctive fashion, which everybody is aware of, however now that the decision is out on this case, he’ll know what to do about it. I’m certain he’ll enchantment,” a Bharatiya Janata Celebration official advised ThePrint on situation of anonymity.
ThePrint contacted Nitesh Rane by cellphone. This report will likely be up to date if he responds.
Emergence because the face of Hindutva
Nitesh Rane was accused in 2017 of abusing and threatening Deputy Director Common of Fisheries, Marvan Pradeep Vasto. Whereas discussing points within the ministry, he threw mackerel at authorities officers. He additionally threatened to burn down the boat whereas abusing Vasto.
Rane then violated sections 353 (assault or prison pressure to dissuade a public servant from discharging his duties), 341 (wrongful restraint), 332 (voluntarily inflicting harm to dissuade a public servant from discharging his duties), 141 (illegal meeting), 143 (illegal member of parliament), 147 (rioting) and 504 of the Indian Penal Code. He was charged beneath Part 1 (Intentional Contempt). 506 (prison intimidation).
Nitesh Rane and his supporters have been arrested on the time after a video clip of the alleged incident was aired on a neighborhood information channel. Bail was granted on the identical day.
In late 2025, he was acquitted of all expenses.
The case for which he’s presently sentenced to jail is from 2019. On the time, Rane was inspecting the Mumbai-Goa expressway when he summoned Prakash Shedekar to the bridge over the Gad River and questioned him about unfinished enterprise. Enraged by the poor high quality of the roads and flooding, Rane and his supporters threw mud on Shedekar and compelled him to stroll within the mud.
The courtroom examined the proof on document and identified that the incident happened regardless of the sufferer holding a excessive publish in NHAI. “Nonetheless, he was made to stroll by muddy water in a public place, which undoubtedly would have been humiliating and insulting to him,” the courtroom mentioned.
In 2024, he allegedly threatened a police officer throughout a Jan Akrosh rally in Sanli. He advised the police {that a} case of ‘love jihad’ ought to be registered. In any other case, he warned, they’d positively be transferred to a distant location from the place they’d not even be capable to contact their households.
Earlier, at one in all his rallies, Rane brazenly advised his supporters that there was no must worry the police as “my boss is staying in Sagar’s bungalow”. This was a reference to the official residence of then Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
In 2022, Rane threatened villagers in Konkan throughout gram panchayat elections, saying he wouldn’t spend authorities funds for the village if the elected sarpanch was not of his alternative.
He has confronted a number of FIRs in hate speech instances throughout the state.
He has declared himself many instances that his job is to pursue the Hindutva agenda. Not solely that, Rane has been collaborating in and sometimes main ‘Hindu Jan Aakrosh’ rallies organized by Sakal Hindu Samaj, an umbrella group of Hindutva outfits, from 2023 until date. There, he’s mentioned to have made offensive remarks about Muslims and accused them of scary Hindus to take the legislation into their very own palms.
In 2024, he additionally referred to as for an financial boycott of Muslims on Mira Street in Mumbai. Naya Nagar on Mira Street witnessed communal riots in January 2024 after Nitesh Rane and fellow Bharatiya Janata Celebration MLA Geeta Jain have been arrested for making provocative speeches.
In 2024, Rane brought on controversy by calling Kerala a “mini-Pakistan” at a rally. Nonetheless, after the Opposition condemned him, Rane defined that he by no means referred to Kerala as a “mini-Pakistan” and was merely evaluating the scenario in Kerala to that of Pakistan within the context of the declining Hindu inhabitants within the state.
Initially, for the Bharatiya Janata Celebration, the Rane household was cooperative in taking over Uddhav Thackeray, given their historical past of hostility in the direction of the Thackeray household. And now, along with his aggressive model of politics, Rane helps the Bharatiya Janata Celebration talk its Hindutva agenda to the plenty.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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