Case against Narayan Rane, 2 others quashed

Mumbai: The Bombay high court last week struck down criminal proceedings against former Congress leader Narayan Rane and two others after former Congress minister Padmakar Valvi gave his consent to quash the case.

According to the complainant, Mr Valvi, in 2002, Mr Rane and MNS’ Bala Nandgaonkar — then Shiv Sena members — and Ravi Shendge, abducted him and forced him to remain absent from the state Assembly session where a no-confidence motion was moved against the chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh-led government.

The Bombay high court quashed the FIR last week when Mr Valvi gave his consent to do the same. While directing that the case be quashed, the court also directed Mr Rane, Mr Nandgaonkar and Mr Shendge to pay Rs 50,000 to the Tata Memorial Hospital as charity.

Last week, a division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Bharti Dangre heard the petition. In his affidavit, Mr Valvi said that with the passage of time, both sides had overcome their differences.

The court held that the matter was amicably settled between the complainant and the accused. “There is no element of public law involved in the crime. The offence alleged cannot be said to have had any impact on the society. In these circumstances, no purpose would be served by keeping the criminal proceedings pending,” said the court.

On June 13, 2002, the Deshmukh-led government won the vote of confidence in the state Assembly.

On the same day, Mr Rane, Mr Nandgaonkar and Mr Shendge were booked by the Cuffe Parade police for allegedly abducting, threatening and illegally detaining Mr Valvi at the Matoshri Sports Club, Jogeshwari, from June 5 to June 12.

The accused forced Mr Valvi to write a letter to the governor mentioning no support to the Congress.

They were charged under provisions of the Indian Penal Code as well as the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1998.