Thaindian News

Ranchi, Nov 17 (IANS) A Jamshedpur court Monday sought a clarification from Mumbai Police on the execution of its warrant against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, who had been arrested and soon freed on bail in Mumbai Saturday.”Judicial Magistrate A.K. Tewary has sought an execution-of-arrest warrant report from Mumbai Police. The court also rejected Thackeray’s petition seeking exemption from personal appearance in the court,” Hamid Raza, a lawyer who filed a petition against the MNS chief in the court, told IANS on telephone from Jamshedpur, about 130 km from this Jharkhand capital.

“I have challenged the claim of Thackeray’s lawyer that he (Thackeray) had got bail in the arrest warrant. The court has sought the document of bail and execution of warrant to verify the facts.”

The next of hearing of the case will be Dec 1.

The case pertains to certain remarks by Thackeray against people from north India, in particular from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, in the past few months. Jharkhand was a part of Bihar till 2000.

Following the non-bailable warrant, Thackeray was arrested in Mumbai Saturday on ‘technical grounds’ but soon freed on bail.

The warrant was handed over to the Shivaji Park police station, under whose jurisdiction Thackeray lives in south-central Mumbai, for suitable action.

Accompanied by a few advisers, the MNS chief went to surrender before the Mazagaon magistrate’s court in south Mumbai, where he was subsequently put under arrest and released on bail on a personal bond of Rs.50,000.

Raza had filed the case objecting to Thackeray’s remarks on Chhath Puja - a popular festival in Bihar and Jharkhand.

“Thackeray talked nonsense about Chhath Puja on Jan 30. He had tried to hurt the religious sentiment and his statement had caused violence against outsiders,” Raza said.

The court took cognizance of the matter and issued the arrest warrant against Thackeray Sep 30.