HC Judge declines to hear bail plea of Rane in assault case;

A vacation judge of the Bombay High Court today declined to hear the anticipatory bail plea of Nilesh Rane, son of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane, in a case of alleged kidnapping and assault on a party worker from Chiplun.
"Not before me", said Justice Prakash Naik when Rane's petition came up before him for hearing.
The judge recused himself from hearing the matter as he had appeared as a lawyer for the other side earlier in some other case.
However, the judge gave liberty to Rane's lawyer Rajendra Shirodkar to approach another vacation court of Justice M S Karnik.

Shirodkar then went to the chamber of Justice Karnik who said he would hear Rane's plea tomorrow.
A case has been registered by Thane police against Nilesh Rane, former Congress MP, his personal assistant Tushar Panchal and bodyguard Manish Singh under IPC for allegedly kidnapping and assaulting Congress President of Chiplun Taluka Sandeep Sawant in April.

According to the FIR, Rane and his accomplices had allegedly kidnapped Sawant and assaulted him on way to Mumbai for not attending a rally called by Nilesh Rane in Chiplun in Ratnagiri district to demand reservation for the Maratha community. Sawant was allegedly confined to a house at Andheri in a Mumbai suburb and later let off.

Sawant had told 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.
On the basis of a complaint filed by Sawant, the Thane police registered a case against Rane and his accomplices. The case would be transferred to Chiplun police in due course because the incident had happened in that town.
Soon after the incident, Sawant was hospitalised for treatment and Narayan Rane had visited him to pacify and urge him to withdraw the complaint against Nilesh Rane but Sawant declared his resolve to fight the case.

Rane's petition for anticipatory bail would be heard tomorrow.