Union Minister Narayan Rane arrested for ‘Slap Thackeray’ remark

MUMBAI: Union Minister Narayan Rane was arrested today over his comment on slapping Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for what he called his "ignorance of the year India won Independence".

Rane is the first Union Minister to be arrested in 20 years.

Rane during his Jan Ashirwad Yatra in adjoining Raigad district on Monday, said, “It is shameful that the chief minister does not know the year of independence. He leaned back to enquire about the count of years of independence during his speech. Had I been there, I would have given (him) a tight slap,”

The Bombay High Court refused to grant relief and told him to follow the due procedures before approaching it.

He had moved the court seeking to quash the four FIRs against him.

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On Tuesday, Mr Rane's lawyer told the court: "The police have arrived to arrest him; they are waiting at his doorstep." The High Court responded: "Please follow the procedure. Don't make us do the job of the registry."

A video shared by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on their social media shows that Rane was arrested by the police at Maharashtra's Sangameshwar while having his lunch even though his supporters tried to block the police.

The Union Minister was taken to a police in Sangameshwar, around 300 km from Mumbai.

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