Second defamation case against Raut for making ‘false allegations’ against CM Eknath Shinde’s son
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut was booked in a defamation case registered in Beed district for alleging a threat to his life from Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s son, MP Shrikant Shinde, said police officials on Friday.
An FIR against Mr. Raut was filed based on a complaint lodged by Shiv Sena’s Beed district unit chief on Thursday, under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153(A) (promoting enmity between different groups), 500 and 501 (both pertaining to defamation), 504 (intentional insult) and others, said authorities from the Beed city police station.
This is the second such case to be lodged against Mr. Raut with a similar one being filed against him in Thane city earlier this week.
On Tuesday, Mr. Raut wrote to the police alleging that Mr. Shrikant Shinde, the MP from Kalyan, had reportedly given a contract to a Thane-based criminal to kill him.
“Lok Sabha member Shrikant Shinde has given a ‘supari’ (contract) to kill me to a Thane-based criminal Raja Thakur. I have confirmed information regarding the same. I am informing you as a responsible citizen,” Mr. Raut had claimed in the letter.
Mr. Raut had written three separate letters to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio, the Mumbai Police Commissioner, and the Thane Police Commissioner, in this regard.
He claimed that soon after the regime change in Maharashtra (in which the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA was toppled by Eknath Shinde), his security arrangement was completely removed.
Mr. Raut further claimed in his letters that he was reportedly being threatened by some MLAs of the ruling dispensation [Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government].
In response to his allegations, Mr. Shrikant Shinde hit out at Mr. Raut, remarking the MP was suffering from a “mental illness” and that all his accusations were “baseless.”
