Court issues non-bailable warrant against Nitesh Rane in defamation case

A Mumbai court on Thursday issued a non-bailable warrant against Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane in connection with a defamation complaint lodged against him in 2023 by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut.

The court had last month issued a bailable warrant against Rane for failing to appear for hearings in the case. During the hearing on June 2, the BJP leader had filed an application seeking permanent exemption from appearance.  However, on Thursday, Judicial Magistrate First Class (Mazgaon court) A A Kulkarni denied him permanent exemption and issued a non-bailable warrant.  The matter has been adjourned to July 18 for a report on the NBW.  Earlier too, the court had issued multiple warrants against Rane, who is BJP MLA from the state's Konkan region, for failing to appear in the hearing of the case.  In May 2023, Nitesh Rane, son of former Union minister Narayan Rane, had allegedly called Raut a "snake" who would ditch Uddhav Thackeray and join the (undivided) NCP by June that year.  Raut, a Rajya Sabha member, filed a complaint before the magistrate's court seeking action against Nitesh Rane for the alleged "defamatory and blatantly false" remarks.