New twist in firing case against Rane's son; bizman intervenes

In a new twist to the case filed against Nitesh Rane, son of Maharashtra Industries Minister Narayan Rane, for opening fire at his NGO member Chintu Shaikh, a city businessman today intervened in the Bombay High Court alleging that the investigations were not done properly.
A bench of Justice V M Kanade and P D Kode asked the businessman, Goldie Sud, to file an application within two weeks in support of his claim that he could throw light on the firing incident which occurred in 2010.
Senior Counsel, Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Rane opposed the intervention saying the businessman had nothing to do with the matter and his plea should not be entertained.

However, the court said it would first hear the intervenor before deciding on his plea. Accordingly, the bench gave him two weeks time to file an application and adjourned the matter to July 24.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Rane seeking to quash a case of attempt to murder filed by CBI against him.
The agency had in March this year filed a closure report in this case before a Magistrate saying that during the probe they had not found allegations of firing to be correct. CBI also said there was no evidence or eyewitnesses to prove the case against Nitesh.

Nitesh, who is chief of the NGO called Swabhiman Sanghatna, sought quashing of the FIR lodged in 2011, on the ground that he had arrived at a settlement with Shaikh.

An FIR under Section 307 (attempt to murder) and various other sections of IPC was registered against Nitesh by the CBI after the Bombay High Court transferred the probe to the agency in March 2011, after inexplicable circumstances which created doubts about the probe were observed.
Quoting a Supreme Court judgement, Nitesh's lawyer had argued earlier that even in serious offences like 'attempt to murder' charges can be quashed if a settlement has been arrived at between the parties. The case was a fallout of political rivalry and nothing more," he had told the court.

On September 23, 2010, Shaikh had filed a complaint with the Powai police, alleging that Nitesh, who was upset that day for some reason, had shot at him twice at NGO's Khar office. Shaikh had also alleged that a bullet had grazed his cheek, causing an injury.