Mumbai: The metropolitan magistrate court, Mazgaon has on Tuesday issued a non bailable warrant against Nitesh Rane, a BJP MLA and son of Union minister Narayan Rane, as he failed to attend the hearing for the defamation case filed by Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut.
The court issued non bailable warrant against Rane after the court rejected his plea seeking exemption from appearance. Hence, Raut's lawyer sought issuance of non bailable warrant against Rane. The same was allowed by the court.
The court had in December last year issued bailable warrant against Rane as he failed to appear. The warrant was canceled in February after he appeared before the court. Thereafter, Rane had sought exemption from appearance in the court hearing. But on Tuesday, his plea was rejected.
Raut had in June last year filed a defamation case against Rane. After conducting a preliminary verification of Raut's complaint, the court took cognisance of the grievance and issued summons to the MLA on October 16, last year.
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In May, Rane allegedly called Raut a “snake” who would ditch Uddhav Thackeray and join the NCP by June 10, 2023. The latter filed a complaint before the magistrate's court, seeking action against the MLA over the “defamatory and blatantly false” remarks.