Hanuman Chalisa row: BMC has scheduled an inspection of the flat owned by Amaravati MP Navneet Rana and her spouse MLA Ravi Rana on Thursday.
MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday issued notice to inspect the Khar West apartment of Amaravati MP Navneet Rana and her spouse and MLA Ravi Rana. The inspection has been proposed to take place on Thursday, May 4, people aware of the matter said.
A BMC official said the notice, issued under section 488 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act 1888, is similar to the ones sent to Union minister Narayan Rane and Khushi Belmondo building in Santacruz West, where Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mohit Kamboj owns multiple flats.
The law authorises municipal officials to enter any premises for an inspection, usually after giving notice to the occupants.
Lawyer Rizwan Merchant, who is appearing for the Ranas in criminal cases, said he wasn’t aware of the BMC notice. “If it has been issued, and if inspections are to take place, they have to be taken place in the presence of the owner/occupier. If they are not present, we will have to see what is to be done.”
Navneet Rana, who owns two flats in Lavhi Apartment according to her 2019 election affidavit, and her husband were arrested from their Mumbai house on April 23 after they insisted on chanting the Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree, the family residence of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in Bandra. They were charged with sedition and promoting enmity between groups.
After the Bombay high court declined their request to cancel the first information report (FIR) filed against them, the Ranas approached the lower court for bail, underlining that there was no intention to instigate people by reciting the Hanuman Chalisa. The judge is due to pronounce the verdict on the bail request on Thursday.
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