Maharashtra’s former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Narayan Rane said here on Monday that none of his family members had any accounts in Swiss or other foreign banks. Reacting to a news report in The Indian Express which stated that his wife Neelam and elder son Nilesh were account holders in the HSBC bank, Rane said: “We do not have any account in any foreign bank. In the past, we have already given an explanation to this effect to the authorities”
When his attention was specifically drawn to the newspaper report wherein the names of his wife and son Nilesh had figured, Rane said: “This is not for the first time that my wife and son have been accused of having accounts in foreign banks. Even in the past, there was no substance in the report. let me clarify that none of family members have any account. Nor do we have any connection with any foreign bank account”. The newspaper had stated that only details available with regard to their HSBC bank accounts were their dates of birth and their Bandra residence address.
While Neelam runs a chain of hotels, Nilesh Rane is a former MP from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency. In the 2014 lok Sabha polls, Jr Rane suffered defeat at the hands of Shiv Sena’s nominee Vinayat Raut by a margin of 1.5 lakh votes.
Meanwhile, late Bal Thackeray’s daughter-in-law and film producer Smita Thackeray – whose name also figured in the news report as having opened HSBC bank account in Geneva in 2002 and had maximum balance of $103,236 (Rs64 lakh) during 2006-07 in her account —was not available for comment, as she was busy with her son’s wedding.
However, a regional television channel quoted her having denied that there was any substance in the news report. The television channel also said that she was not ready to come before the camera to refute the news report.
Smita Thackeray, estranged wife of late Thackeray’s second son Jaidev Thackeray, was a power centre in the Thackeray household in the second half of the nineties when the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance was in power in the State. Some years ago, she produced a money-spinning film “Haseena Maan jayegi”, starring Govinda, Sanjay Dutt, Karisma Kapoor and Pooja Batra. She currently heads the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association (IMPPA).