Narayan Rane, son get anticipatory bail in defamation case

Advocate Pradeep Gharat, who argued for the state, opposed the bail plea calling it a serious issue as the Ranes appeared before the police but have not cooperated

MUMBAI: A sessions court in Mumbai on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to Union minister Narayan Rane and his son, Nitesh, a Maharashtra legislator, in connection with the defamation case for allegedly questioning the character of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s manager Disha Salian, who died in an accident.

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Vasanti Salian, the mother of Disha Salian, filed the case saying the Ranes made statements questioning her daughter’s character. On her complaint, police booked the two including for defamation and criminal intimidation.

Additional Sessions Judge S U Baghele allowed the bail plea of the Ranes filed through advocate Satish Maneshinde. The two cited a perusal of the allegations in the First Information Report (FIR) and said even assuming that they are correct for the sake of argument, “no reasonable person could come to the conclusion that any offence whatsoever” has been committed.

“Prima-facie no case has been made out against the applicants...,” said their plea. It added the FIR has been registered with ulterior motives and to restrict their movement. “The applicants have cooperated with the police and visited the police station in the case. None of the tweets made by the applicants can be said are vulgar.” It cited two non-bailable sections in the FIR and argued they were not applicable. The plea said they have been included merely to curtail the liberty of the applicants. It added the two never threatened or intimidated anyone.

Advocate Pradeep Gharat, who argued for the state, opposed the plea calling it a serious issue. He added the Ranes appeared before the police but have not cooperated.