Mumbai: A court in Sindhudurg has convicted Maharashtra Minister Nitesh Rane in a 2019 case in which he poured mud on an NHAI engineer while he was in the opposition, sentencing him to one month in jail. The court observed that lawmakers are not expected to take the law into their own hands.
The court later suspended the sentence on Monday, giving Rane time to appeal before a higher court, and acquitted 29 other accused in the case. Additional Sessions Judge V S Deshmukh noted that although Rane intended to raise concerns about poor quality work and public inconvenience, he had no right to humiliate or insult a public servant in public.
Gold Rate
Apr 28- 2026 - Time 10.30Hrs
The judge said such incidents could undermine the ability of public servants to perform their duties with dignity. Describing the act as an abuse of power, the court said there was a need to curb such tendencies.
Rane, son of former Union Minister Narayan Rane, was among 30 people charged with offences including rioting, assault to deter a public servant, and criminal conspiracy. He was with the Congress at the time of the incident.
All the accused, including Rane, were acquitted of these charges due to lack of sufficient evidence. However, the court found Rane guilty under Section 504 for intentional insult intended to provoke a breach of public peace and sentenced him to one month in prison.
The incident took place on July 4, 2019, when Rane, then a Congress MLA, summoned Prakash Shedekar, a Sub Divisional Engineer with the National Highways Authority of India, to a bridge over the Gad river in Kankavli to inspect work on the Mumbai Goa highway.
According to the prosecution, Rane and his supporters, angered by poor roadwork and waterlogging, confronted the engineer, poured muddy water on him, and forced him to walk through slush in public.
The court noted that the victim held a senior position in the NHAI and said forcing him to walk through muddy water in public amounted to humiliation and insult.
The judge concluded that Rane’s actions were a deliberate insult intended to provoke and disturb public peace.
