A day after being granted bail over “slapping the chief minister” remark, Union minister Narayan Rane received a fresh notice of summons from the Nashik police on Wednesday.
An agency report said the notice was sent to the senior BJP leader in connection with an FIR and Rane had been asked to appear at the police station on September 2.
The fresh summons came around the same time a detailed copy of the Mahad court’s Tuesday night order granting the former chief minister bail was made available. The court said that while Rane’s arrest over his controversial remarks against chief minister Uddhav Thackeray was “justified”, his custodial interrogation was not necessary.
Rane was arrested on Tuesday in Ratnagiri district after multiple FIRs were registered against him at several places, including Nashik and Pune, based on complaints filed by Shiv Sena leaders for his remarks against Thackeray.
The Union minister, who was previously with the Sena before switching over to the Bharatiya Janata Party, had on Monday accused Thackeray of ignorance about the year of India's independence at an event and said he would have given him a “tight slap" had been present at the spot.
The remarks sparked massive controversy with Sena and BJP workers clashing across the state and the senior leadership of the two camps engaging in a war of words.
While Sena leaders strongly condemned Rane's remarks with party leader Vinayak Raut seeking his removal from the Union Cabinet, the BJP leadership condemned Maharashtra Police for the alleged illegal detainment of Rane.
Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil even called the bail of Rane a 'slap' by the court on the face of the state government.
While granting bail to the Union minister on a surety of ₹15,000, the court ordered Rane to be present at the Ratnagiri police station for inquiry on August 31 and September 13 and cautioned him not to commit a similar kind of offence in the future.
Magistrate SS Patil said in the order that while a few sections under which Rane was booked were non-bailable, they were not punishable with life or death.
(With inputs from agencies)