Navi Mumbai police files FIR against Nitesh Rane

Rane has been booked for inciting religious sentiments and enmity while delivering a speech at a Ganesh pandal in Ulwe last week

Navi Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai police have taken suo motu action against BJP legislator Nitesh Rane for making an alleged inflammatory speech targetting Muslims. He has been booked for inciting religious sentiments and enmity while delivering a speech at a Ganesh pandal in Ulwe last week.

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“There are supreme court orders directing the police to file complaints on their own in the event of anyone making an inflammatory speech. Due process has been followed in this case and further investigation is underway,” said senior inspector Satish Kadam.

Rane had been invited as chief guest at a Ganpati pandal in Ulwe on September 11, when he delivered the allegedly inflammatory speech. On Sunday, he was booked by the NRI police station under sections 302 (offending religious sentiments), 351(2) (criminal intimidation), 352 (imprisonment), and 353(2) (inciting enmity) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The complainant was a policeman who was on duty at the venue when the speech was delivered. The event organiser, Sankalp Gharat, has also been named as an accused in the FIR as the seven-day-long Ganpati festival was organised without any prior permission.