Mumbai court denies relief to Narayan Rane, Nandgaonkar

A sessions court here today rejected an application filed by former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane and two others, opposing invocation of the SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against them in a case of alleged abduction of an MLA in 2002.

Additional sessions judge G O Agarwal said he was dismissing the plea and will record the reasons separately.

Former NCP MLA Padmakar Valvi had lodged a complaint against Rane, former MLA Bala Nandgaonkar and Ravi Shendge.

Valvi alleged that Sena leaders abducted him in June 2002 in a bid to topple the Vilasrao Deshmukh-led Democratic Front government in Maharashtra which was facing a trust vote.

The Deshmukh government won a vote of confidence in Assembly on June 13, 2002, and on the same day, Cuffe Parade police here registered a case against Rane and others under IPC sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 365 (kidnapping) and for other relevant offences.

Police also pressed charges under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as Valvi belonged to the Scheduled Tribes category.

Valvi alleged that he was abducted by Shiv Sena leaders and kept at Matoshri Sports Club in suburban Jogeshwari from June 5 to June 12.

Rane and Nandgaonkar were both with the Shiv Sena then. Rane later joined the Congress (which he recently quit) while Nandgaonkar joined the MNS.

Valvi also alleged that Rane wanted him to write to the governor, withdrawing his support to the Congress-NCP government and extending support to the BJP-Sena alliance.

He was also assaulted by some Sena workers when he tried to escape, he said.

When the case came up before the metropolitan magistrate's court, Rane and others opposed the application of ST-ST Act, saying that there were no grounds to invoke it.

However, the magistrate rejected the plea last year.

They filed a revision application before the sessions court, which was rejected today.

The trial of the case is yet to start.