Cops didn't ill-treat MP Rana: Maharashtra home minister

The Maharashtra government has refuted claims that Amravati Lok Sabha MP Navneet Rana was ill-treated in police custody or in jail. Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil on Tuesday said the MP was treated well after her arrest contrary to her claims.

"The Lok Sabha secretariat has asked us to give a report on the incident; we would give a report within the stipulated time. There was no mistreatment, we have investigated the allegations. There is no truth in them. The Lok Sabha secretariat has asked for the factual information, we would send the report," said Walse Patil.

Navneet Rana in her written complaint to the Lok Sabha secretariat had said police officials did not give her water throughout the night after her arrest. She claimed that police officials told her she could not be served water as she was from a scheduled caste. The Amravati MP had also claimed that she was not allowed to use the washroom throughout the night in police custody. Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana were arrested on Saturday by the Mumbai police for planning to sing Hanuman Chalisa outside the personal residence of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.


The Mumbai police has hit back at the allegations with city Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey tweeting a small video of the couple after their arrest at the Khar police station. Captioned 'Do we say anything more', it showed the MP and MLA couple having tea at the police station after their arrest by the Khar police.

The small video also shows that the police had offered the couple packaged drinking water too. Rana's advocate Rizwan Merchant, however, claimed that the MP had not claimed harassment from the Khar police station but from the Santacruz police station. "She has not spoken about the Khar police station at all, the incident she is referring to is about the Santacruz police station where she was taken to during the night, after her arrest at the Khar police station,"said Merchant in a video message.