Narayan Rane apologises for his MLA-son's assault on engineer

Maharashtra Swabhiman Party leader Narayan Rane Thursday apologised for his MLA-son Nitesh Rane's assault on a deputy engineer.

Nitesh Rane, a Congress MLA, was Thursday caught on camera pouring mud on a deputy engineer to protest the poor condition of the Mumbai-Goa highway. The incident took place at Kankavli in the coastal district of Sindhudurg.

On a complaint filed by the engineer, Prakash Khedekar, an offence under IPC section 353 (assault on government servant has been registered against Nitesh Rane and his supporters, police said.

Further probe is on and nobody has been arrested yet, they said.

As the video of the incident went viral and caused an outrage, Narayan Rane, a Rajya Sabha MP from the BJP, apologised for his son's misconduct.

"I apologise for my son's act of pouring mud on a government official. The protest (against poor condition of the highway) was for the local people," the former chief minister told PTI.

In the video clip, Rane and Kankavli Municipal Council president Samir Nalawade are purportedly seen tying Khedekar of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to the railing of a bridge and pouring buckets of mud on him.

Nitesh Rane, the MLA from Kankavli, and his supporters were protesting after finding potholes and mud on the busy highway.