Along with congress' Nitesh Rane, 16 of his supporters were arrested as well. (File)
Congress legislator Nitesh Rane, who was arrested on Thursday for attacking a government official with mud and slime on a highway near Mumbai has been sent to police custody till July 9.
Nitesh Rane, son of BJP Rajya Sabha lawmaker and former chief minister Narayan Rane, was arrested when he surrendered at a police station in Kankavali on Thursday evening. 16 of his supporters were arrested as well.
Nitesh Rane had assaulted deputy engineer Prakash Shedekar of the National Highways Authority of India at Kankavali in coastal Sindhudurg district, over the poor condition of the road.
In a video of the assault, Nitesh Rane can be seen lashing out at the official, alleging that people had to suffer muddy and potholed roads routinely because of his incompetence.
"People are suffering it daily... Now, you also experience it," the lawmaker and his lackeys reportedly said, tipping buckets full of slime on Mr Shedekar, manhandling him and even tying him up.
"Now do you get it," Nitesh Rane said, questioning the mud-covered official aggressively. "Who has given you the right to sink this area under slime?"
A far from repentant Nitish Rane spoke about arming himself with a stick the next time. "Now I will myself oversee the repair work on this highway, with a stick in my hand. Every day at 7 am I will reach here. Let me see how the system wins. We have the medicine to tackle their arrogance," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Nitesh Rane is a repeat offender. In 2017, he threw a fish at a senior government officer when he lost his temper during a meeting.
He is yet to apologise but his father Narayan Rane, a former Congress leader who is a Rajya Sabha member supported by the BJP, has offered one.
"This behaviour is wrong. The protest over the highway issue is correct but this violence by his supporters is not correct. I don't support this," said Narayan Rane.
Asked whether he would ask his son to apologise, Rane senior said: "Why won't I ask him to apologise? He is my son. If a father can aplogise for no fault of his, son will have to apologise."
With inputs from agencies