BJP MLAs Raja Singh, Nitesh Rane booked for hate speech at Maharashtra rally

The rally was held on Saturday between Rajendra Chowk and Kanna Chowk and was also attended by leaders of the Sakal Hindu Samaj, an umbrella body of several outfits, whose office bearers have also been named in the FIR, the Jail Road police station official said.

Mumbai: An FIR was registered against BJP MLA Nitesh Rane and the party’s Telangana legislator T Raja Singh and others for alleged hate speeches during a ‘Hindu Jan Aakrosh’ rally in Solapur, some 400 kilometres from here, a police official said on Sunday.

The rally was held on Saturday between Rajendra Chowk and Kanna Chowk and was also attended by leaders of the Sakal Hindu Samaj, an umbrella body of several outfits, whose office bearers have also been named in the FIR, the Jail Road police station official said.

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While Rane mentioned “jihadis” and demolition of mosques, Singh, MLA from Goshamahal in Hyderabad, allegedly uttered objectionable statements on “love jihad”, the official said.

“We have booked Rane, Raja Singh, Sakal Hindu Samaj office bearer Sudhakar Mahadev Bahirwade and 8-10 others under various sections of the Indian Penal Code,” he said.

The case was registered under sections 153A (creating enmity between two different groups on ground of religion), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and others, he added.