Mumbai: Congress MLA Nitesh Narayan Rane along with two of his close associates have been arrested and charged with trespass, extortion, criminal intimidation and others on Thursday evening.
Ritesh Rane has been threatening the owners of Estella lounge since last year to shut it down if they fail to pay his share to run their lounge near his near his bungalow on the Juhu Tara Road.
Santacruz Police officer said, “Rane threatened them with dire consequences and demanded to see their books of accounts. When the duo did not go to him, he sent his goons to the lounge to shut it down.”
“Rane had apparently approached the businessmen duo, who run several pubs all over the city, in June last year demanding to be made a 50 percent partner in the business if they wished to continue their business in his area. In October, he even sent them a partnership agreement. Though the duo did not agree to the partnership, they agreed to pay him Rs 10 lakh every month. They continued with this arrangement from October to May”, continued the officer.
DCP Rashmi Karandikar said the two accused arrested are interrogated in Police custody and will be in remand until May 22.
MLA Rane might be called in for interrogation after Police gets hold of his phone records threatening the owners said the sources.
Rane in a statement said, “Hitesh Keshwani was my business partner and there was some miscommunication between us. We discussed the matter today and solved the issue. He will soon approach the police and court and take back his complaint”, as reported in MumbaiMirror.