Nitesh Rane, who is accused of firing at Shamim Shaikh alias Chintu Shaikh, a member of his Swabhimaan Sanghatana, in September 2010, has approached the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of the compliant following a settlement between them in the matter.
A division bench of judges NH Patil and Anuja Prabhudessai has asked the counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the case, to seek instructions from the agency on the petition.
Nitesh, son of revenue minister Narayan Rane, stated in his petition that the case against him was lodged on political pressure. "The incident was grossly exaggerated and was the result of a political design to politically embarrass petitioner no.1 (Nitesh) and his father," he said in the petition.
Nitesh's assistants Nitin Varnarayan and Zahid Yunus Khan are the other petitioners.
The petition further states: "It is a false and fabricated case, replete with political motives at the instance of the original complainant (Shaikh) who only sought to maliciously prosecute the petitioners (Nitesh and his assistants) with the sole motive of tainting the public image of petitioner no. 1 (Nitesh) and his father (Rane)."
Mahesh Jethmalani and Parvez Memon, counsels for Nitesh, informed the court that Nitesh and Shaikh have reached a settlement.
Jethmalani also submitted to the court that the CBI had filed a closure report before the magistrate on April 21, 2012, stating that there was no evidence to substantiate the allegations made by Shaikh and hence there was no ground to file a chargesheet.
The magistrate had, however, rejected the closure report and directed the CBI to carry out the investigation.
The petition claimed that the two sides have reached a settlement and as a result Shaikh has agreed to withdraw the complaint against Nitesh. Accordingly, they have entered into a memorandum of understanding / consent terms on March 10, 2014.
"In order to honour his unequivocal consent and decision to exonerate the petitioners, he (Shaikh) had forwarded a written letter to the police officials at the office of the CBI, Special Crime Branch, Mumbai, requesting them to discharge the petitioners from any and all offences (lodged by Shaikh)," the petition stated.
Khar incident
Shamim Shaikh had alleged that on September 23, 2010, Nitesh Rane, had shot at him twice at his Khar office.
In his complaint to the police, he said a bullet grazed his cheek, causing an injury.
Shaikh's complaint, filed at Powai police station, was subsequently transferred to the Khar police.
Doctors at the Hiranandani hospital, where Shaikh was treated, stated on the day after the incident that the injury was not caused by a bullet.
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