Congress MLA throws mud on engineer; taken into police custody
What's the story
Almost a week after BJP MLA Akash Vijayvargiya assaulted an Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) official with a cricket bat, a Congress MLA, Nitesh Rane, was captured on camera literally mudslinging a National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) engineer on Thursday.
The incident took place on the highway near Mumbai, Maharashtra, where Rane, along with his supporters, had gone to "inspect" road repairs.
Here's more.
Details
Rane blasted engineer for road's poor condition; poured mud
Reportedly, when Rane, son of Rajya Sabha MP and former Maharashtra CM Narayan Rane, arrived at the spot, he complained about the road's condition.
Rane and his supporters blasted the sub-engineer, Prakash Shedekar, for making commuters suffer through muddy and potholed roads.
"People are suffering it daily... Now, you experience it," Rane and his supporters said as they inverted buckets of muddy slime over Shedekar.
Video
Rane wanted to 'teach him a lesson'
A video of the incident went viral online, inviting severe backlash.
The video shows Rane and his supporters question the engineer, "Who has given you the right to sink Kankavli under slime?"
Thereafter, Rane and his men can be seen shoving Shedekar towards the railing of the bridge and attempted to tie him up in a bid to "teach him a lesson."
Twitter Post
Here's a video of the incident
#WATCH: Congress MLA Nitesh Narayan Rane and his supporters throw mud on engineer Prakash Shedekar at a bridge near Mumbai-Goa highway in Kankavali, when they were inspecting the potholes-ridden highway. They later tied him to the bridge over the river. pic.twitter.com/B1XJZ6Yu6z
— ANI (@ANI) July 4, 2019
Aftermath
Rane later surrendered to police himself
Rane later drove to the police station and surrendered. He and two others were arrested.
However, Rane expressed no regret, as ANI quoted him, "Now, I will oversee the repair work on this highway myself, with a stick in my hand. Every day at 7 am, I'll reach here. Let me see how the system wins. We have the medicine to tackle their arrogance."
Information
Police registered complaint; took Rane in custody
According to reports, a complaint was filed by the engineer, an offense under Section 353 of the Indian Penal Code (assault on government servant). "He has been taken into police custody in this case," Dikshit Gedam, Superintendent of Police of Sindhudurg confirmed to PTI.
Quote
He will have to apologize, says Rane's father
Although Rane is yet to apologize, his father criticized his actions, saying, "This behavior is wrong. The protest over the highway issue is correct, but this violence by his supporters isn't correct. I don't support this."
Asked if he would urge Rane to apologize, he added, "He's my son. If a father can apologize for no fault of his, he'll have to apologize."
Information
In 2017, Rane threw fish at government official
Notably, this is not the first time the Congress MLA has been seeing getting aggressive in public. In 2017, Rane threw a fish at a senior government official as he lost his temper during a meeting to discuss problems faced by fishermen.
History
Last week, BJP MLA arrested for thrashing IMC official
To recall, a similar incident happened in Indore last week.
BJP lawmaker Akash Viijayvargiya, son of senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, thrashed a Municipal Corporation official with a cricket bat in Indore as the latter conducted an anti-encroachment drive.
Viijayvargiya was arrested and later released on bail, showing no remorse.
Although he was garlanded by supporters upon release, PM Modi strongly opposed his actions.