Mumbai police file charge sheet against Rana couple for allegedly assaulting cops

The Ranas have been accused of assaulting the policemen who went to arrest them on April 23 after the couple declared their intention to chant Hanuman Chalisa on a loudspeaker outside chief minister Uddhav Thackarey’s private residence at Bandra.

MUMBAI: The Khar police on Wednesday filed charge sheet against Navneet Rana, an independent Member of Parliament (MP) from Amravati, and her husband Ravi Rana, a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), in connection with a case registered against them for allegedly assaulting the policemen who went to arrest them on April 23 after the couple declared their intention to chant Hanuman Chalisa on a loudspeaker outside chief minister Uddhav Thackarey’s private residence at Bandra.

The Rana couple was arrested on April 23, after the Hanuman Chalisa row, for allegedly attempting to cause communal disharmony and breach of public peace. (PTI File Photo)

The police submitted the 85-page charge-sheet to the metropolitan magistrate court at Borivali.

The couple has been booked under sections 353 (use of force for deterring a public servant from performing his duty) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for creating a scene and manhandling policemen when police went to arrest them at their Khar residence on April 23.

Mohan Mane, senior police inspector of Khar police station, said the couple was charged with assault on public servant and was served a notice two days ago that the charge sheet was being filed against them on Wednesday.

Another police officer said the 85-page charge-sheet contains statements of 23 witnesses, who were present when the couple created ruckus on April 23 while resisting their arrest in another FIR filed against them.

On April 23, after the Hanuman Chalisa row, the couple was arrested for allegedly attempting to cause communal disharmony and breach of public peace, an offence under section 153 A of the IPC.

The Khar police are yet to file charge sheet in that case.