BREAKING: Union Minister Narayan Rane arrested over 'slap Uddhav' remark

Union Minister Narayan Rane has been arrested for a 'slap' remark against Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray. Minister Rane was arrested from Chiplun in the Ratnagiri district. After the arrest, police officials have now left Chiplun. Minister Rane was arrested after Ratnagiri Court rejected the anticipatory bail application and the Bombay High Court refused to hear the anticipatory bail application immediately.

After his remarks about CM Thackeray, cases were registered against Union Minister Rane in Nashik, Pune, and Raigad.

Earlier in the day, BJP and Shiv Sena workers were also involved in a scuffle outside Union Minister Narayan Rane's house after the latter allegedly threatened to 'slap' Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. 

A team of police personnel went to Rane's camp in Sangameshwar in Ratnagiri when he was en route on his 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' in the Konkan region. The developments came barely a couple of hours after Rane sharply dared that "nobody could do anything to him" or prevent him from "moving around freely".

A team of senior police officers met Rane and later completed the arrest formalities even as a large number of his supporters and a huge posse of police were present.

An aide to the central minister Pramod Jathar claimed that no arrest warrant has been produced and the police pleaded that they were under 'pressure' to arrest Rane. Jathar added that "there is the rule of law" in the state but the police were not following the due protocols, not showing the arrest warrant or other documents for the same.

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis later also slammed the Maharashtra government for using the police to suppress the Opposition in the state. Fadnavis' statement came in the wake of FIRs registered against Union Minister Narayan Rane for his alleged derogatory remarks against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

(With wire inputs)