Sanjay Raut defends police action against MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband

Sanjay Raut. File Pic

A day after Mumbai police arrested independent MP Navneet Rana and her husband MLA Ravi Rana, Shiv Sena's chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut defended the action, saying there there must have been some reason behind the police action.

Referring to the attack on former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya's car near Khar police station on April 23, Raut told reporters that "some traitors do get pelted with stones". Somaiya had gone to the police station to meet the Rana couple, whose earlier call for chanting Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra Chief Minister and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray's residence 'Matoshree' had angered the Sena cadres.

"What business does Somaiya have into an ongoing investigation by Mumbai police against Ravi Rana and Navneet Rana? If police have taken some action against them, there must be some reason,¿ Raut said. ¿When central agencies probe or raid our leaders, they (BJP) always say there must be something which why the action is taken. One must trust police...the Mumbai police never register a false report or an FIR,¿ said the Shiv Sena leader, whose party shares power with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra.

On the alleged attack on Somaiya's car, Raut, without taking the BJP leader's name, said, "Some traitors do receive stone-pelting. He is a liar and should not be taken so seriously." Somaiya had alleged that his vehicle was attacked on Saturday night when he had gone to meet arrested MP Navneet Rana and MLA Ravi Rana. Raut said people get angry when a person, allegedly involved in misappropriation of funds collected in the name of restoring decommissioned naval aircraft carrier Vikrant, meets another public representative, who has allegedly forged a caste certificate and won the Lok Sabha seat.

"If stones are pelted at such people, why is the BJP feeling the pain?" the Rajya Sabha member wondered. An FIR was registered against Kirit Somaiya and his son Neil Somaiya on April 6 at Trombay police station here following a complaint by an ex-Army person, who claimed the BJP leader Somaiya had collected Rs 57 crore from the public in 2013 for the restoration of Vikrant. The money was, however, never put to use or deposited with the governor's office, as per the initial plan, the complaint stated. Navneet Rane, the Lok Sabha member from Amravati in Maharashtra, is accused of obtaining a caste certificate fraudulently using fabricated documents.

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