Hanuman Chalisa row: Centre asks Maharashtra for report over MP's allegation

Hanuman Chalisa row: Amravati MP Navneet Rana and her husband Ravi Rana have been charged with sedition.

With Maharashtra's political controversies - on Hanuman Chalisa row - reaching Delhi, the home ministry has asked the state government to submit a factual report after Amravati MP alleged she was ill-treated at a police station.

MP Navneet Rana at Santacruz Station, after she along with her husband Ravi Rana were arrested for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups on Saturday. (HT_PRINT)

Amravati MP Navneet Rana had written to Lok Sabha speaker Om Prakash Birla after she was arrested in Mumbai along with her husband, MLA Navneet Rana, over allegedly inciting the public. The MP-MLA couple had warned to chant ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ - a hymn in praise of the Hindu god - outside chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s home, ‘Matoshree’. The couple have also been booked for sedition.

In her letter, Amravati MP on Monday said she was ill-treated at Mumbai’s Khar police station on Saturday. The Lok Sabha’s Privilege and Ethics Committee asked the home ministry to seek a report from the state government on the matter, according to officials.

The controversy over the MP-MLA couple’s warning had blown up as India’s financial capital saw huge political drama on Saturday with huge police deployment outside the CM’s residence and massive protests by Shiv Sena workers outside the couple’s home.

The couple was arrested by evening even as they said they wouldn't chant the hymn outside the CM’s home.

Later, a BJP leader, Kirit Somaiyya, went to the police station to back the husband-wife duo but he alleged an attack by over “100 Sena goons”, saying they wanted to “kill him”.

A BJP delegation met union minister of state for home affairs, Nityanand Rai, on Monday over the matter and the central government assured support to the BJP leader. Former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis too has attacked the state government over the issue.

Breaking his silence, the chief minister on Monday said: . "If you want to recite 'Hanuman Chalisa' at my home, do come. But approach with a proper method. But if you want to visit by 'dadagiri' (bullying), Balasaheb (the late Shiv Sena founder and his father) had taught us how to smash that 'dadagiri'.”

(With inputs from PTI)