Maharashtra BJP MLA and Union Minister Narayan Rane’s son Nitesh Rane on Tuesday suffered a setback as a Sindhudurg district court on Tuesday rejected his pre-arrest bail plea in an alleged attempt to murder case.
In a development that came six days after the Supreme Court gave him protection from arrest for ten days and asked him to seek a regular bail from the trail court,
Sindhudurg District Court’s Additional Sessions Judge R. B. Rote rejected Nitesh’s pre-arrest bail plea, after observing that the grant of bail would hamper the “incomplete” investigations, and his ‘custodial interrogation’ was necessitated considering the case facts and circumstances.
The Bombay High Court had earlier on January 17 refused to grant an anticipatory bail to Nitesh and another accused Sandesh alias Gotya Sawant in the alleged attempt to murder case.
Amid speculation about the possibility of Nitesh being arrested, his lawyer Satish Maneshinde said oon Tuesday evening that “nobody can touch Rane till he enjoys the protection from the Supreme Court” and that he would soon move the Bombay High Court challenging the Sindhudurg Court order.
Nitesh has been charged with Sections 307 (attmpt to murder), 120- B (conspiracy) read with 34 (common intention) of the IPC.
Nitesh has been named as the key conspirator behind an attempt to murder Shiv Sena leader Santosh Manohar Parab, who was knocked down from behind by a car on December 18,2021, while he was returning home by a motorcycle at Kankavali in Sindudurg district which is Ranes’ political bastion.
The prosecution’s case that a conspiracy was hatched in which one Sachin Satpute was entrusted “to assault and criminally intimidate the complainant/injured”. Satpute (A6) with the help of Dhiraj Jadhao who is bodyguard of Sachin Satpute) and accused Sneha Chavan, Dnyaneshwar @ Mauli who were part of the conspiracy. Both Nitesh and Gotya Sawant are alleged to have hatched the conspiracy to make an attempt o the life of Parab.
The high court had denied pre-arrest bail to Nitesh and another accused after the Prosecution had among other things had opposed the anticipatory bail being granted to him and Gotya Sawant on the ground that there were all five cases against him ( Nitesh) and 26 cases against the latter. The Prosecution had also told the court Nitesh was arrested by the Kankvali police under Section 353, 332, 342, 324, 147, 143, 148, 149, 323, 504, 506, 109 and 120-B of IPC and Section 3 of the Damage to Public Property Act.
Earlier, seeking pre-arrest bail for his client, Rane’s lawyers Satish Maneshinde and S. D. Desai had told the court that the case was politically motivated and a story was concocted, his client was ready to cooperate with the investigations and he had recorded his statement on December 24.
Opposing Rane’s plea, Special Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said no notice was served to the prosecution before filing the bail application under Sec. 438 of CrPC and his anticipatory bail applications had been already rejected earlier, and his custody was required for a just and proper investigation.
Gharat further contended that the SC had allowed Rane to surrender before the trial court and then apply for regular bail, and the 10 days interim protection was breathing time to prepare him for giving himself up.
Observing that Rane was not “falsely implicated due to political reasons”, Judge Rote said the he is the ‘main accused’ and his prima facie involvement has been shown, a conspiracy was hatched to teach (Parab) a lesson, and hence his “custodial interrogation” was necessary for proper and effective investigation.
There are nine accused in the case. They included six arrested accused -- Chetan Pawar, Karan B. Kamble, Anil Nakka, Karan D. Kamble, Deepak N. Waghode and Sachin Satpute – all from Pune. The remaining two other accused Dnyaneshwar D. Devnur and Dheeraj Jadhav are still absconding.