Ratnagiri: Union Minister Narayan Rane was arrested in Ratnagiri on Tuesday for his ‘slap’ jab directed at Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Nashik Police Commissioner Deepak Pandey earlier in the day issued orders for the immediate arrest of Rane after an FIR was registered against him in the city.
Rane had earlier moved the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of the FIRs against him.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in his petition, filed through advocate Aniket Nikam, also sought an interim order granting him protection from arrest or any coercive action.
Seeking an urgent hearing on Tuesday itself, the petition was mentioned before a division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar.
The High Court bench, however, refused to hear it and asked the lawyer to follow the procedure.
“File an application before the Registry Department seeking urgent hearing and then we will consider,” High Court said.
The petition has challenged the FIRs lodged against Rane in Pune, Nashik and Mahad in Raigad.
The Union Minister stirred a controversy earlier on Monday with his remarks about slapping the Maharashtra Chief Minister for what he claimed his “ignorance of the year of India’s Independence”.
Earlier in the day, a fight broke out as the Shiv Sena members carrying flags and shouting slogans marched towards Rane’s residence in Mumbai. They were stopped by the BJP workers.
Stones were also thrown between the two groups. The Shiv Sena workers later sat on the road and blocked traffic.
Scores of policemen tried to break up the fight, which took place outside Rane’s house in Mumbai’s Juhu area.
The policemen even used force to separate the Shiv Sena and BJP workers.