Mumbai: From flinging a fish and throwing mud at government officials to getting into altercations with police officers and making controversial remarks on Muslims, Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Nitesh Rane has been widely known for his belligerent side.
This time around, however, the law seems to have caught up with him.
A local court Monday sentenced Nitesh Rane to one month in jail for pouring mud over National Highways Authority of India Engineer Prakash Shedekar in 2019. Rane was then a Congress MLA, but joined the BJP the same year, before the assembly elections. He was elected as MLA on a BJP ticket.
Since then, his clout has grown beyond Sindhudurg, his constituency. The Rane family has been known for their aggressive brand of politics, with former CM Narayan Rane, Nitesh’s father, also having been a part of one too many controversies.
A BJP functionary, on the condition of anonymity, told ThePrint, “This is a very old matter. Nitesh Rane is known for his unique style—everyone knows—but now that the verdict has come in this case, he will know what to do about it. I’m sure that he will appeal against it,” the functionary said.
ThePrint reached Nitesh Rane via calls. This report will be updated if and when he responds.
Emergence as the face of Hindutva
Nitesh Rane, in 2017, was accused of abusing and threatening the assistant commissioner in the fisheries department in Malvan—Pradeep Vast. While discussing the department’s issues, he threw a mackerel at the government official. He also threatened to burn down boats while abusing Vast.
Later, Rane was booked under Indian Penal Code sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 341 (wrongful restraint), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 141 (unlawful assembly), 143 (being a member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), and 506 (criminal intimidation).
Once a video clip of the alleged incident aired on local news channels, Nitesh Rane and his supporters were arrested at the time. He was granted bail on the same day.
Later in 2025, he was acquitted of all charges.
The case that has now led to his jail sentence is from 2019. At the time, Rane, while inspecting the Mumbai-Goa Highway, called Prakash Shedekar to a bridge over the Gad river and questioned him about incomplete work. Enraged over the poor quality of roads and waterlogging, Rane and his supporters poured mud over Shedekar and made him walk drenched in mud.
The court, perusing the evidence on record, noted that the incident occurred despite the victim holding a high post in the NHAI. “Despite that, he was made to walk through the muddy water in public. It would have certainly humiliated and insulted him,” the court remarked.
In 2024, he allegedly threatened police officers in Sangli during a Jan Akrosh rally. He told the police that they needed to register “love jihad” cases. Otherwise, he warned, he would ensure their transfers to such remote places that they would not be able to even contact their families from there.
Prior to this, in one of his rallies, Rane publicly told his supporters they should not fear the police as “his boss stays in Sagar bungalow”. This was a reference to the official residence of then Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
In 2022, Rane threatened villagers in Konkan during a gram panchayat election, saying that if the elected sarpanch was not of his choice, he would not spend government funds for the village.
He has faced multiple FIRs in hate speech cases across the state.
He has many times self-declared that his job was to pursue the Hindutva agenda. Not only that, between 2023 and now, Rane attended, often led, ‘Hindu Jan Aakrosh’ rallies organised by the Sakal Hindu Samaj, an umbrella organisation of Hindutva outfits. There, he allegedly made objectionable statements about Muslims, also accusing them of provoking Hindus to take the law into their own hands.
In 2024, he also called for the economic boycott of Muslims in Mumbai’s Mira Road. Mira Road’s Naya Nagar saw communal riots in January 2024 after Nitesh Rane and another BJP MLA, Geeta Jain, had been booked over their allegedly provocative speeches.
In 2024, Rane caused a stir after he termed Kerala as ‘mini Pakistan’ at a public rally. However, after the Opposition slammed him, Rane explained how he never called Kerala ‘mini Pakistan’, but merely compared the situation in Kerala to Pakistan’s, in the context of the declining population of Hindus in the state.
Initially, for the BJP, the Rane family was helpful in taking on Uddhav Thackeray, given Rane’s history of animosity against the Thackerays. And now, Rane, with his aggressive brand of politics, is helping the BJP take its Hindutva agenda to the masses.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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