A day after the state told the Bombay High Court that it had no proof to act against Bal Thackeray, Raj Thackeray and Narayan Rane for political vandalism, Home Minister R.R. Patil told his department to reconsider its stand.  “The minister has asked me to talk to state Advocate General about how legal loopholes can be plugged,” said Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Chandra Iyengar on Friday.

The government’s stand was based on probes in which arrested party men said they vandalised property on their own and that they were not incited.

In the cases cited by former police chief J.F. Ribeiro in a letter to the High Court — based on which the court began suo motu proceedings — the state had found no link between acts of vandalism and what the political leaders had said.