Union minister Narayan Rane was on Tuesday granted bail by a court in Maharashtra’s Mahad city, hours after his arrest for a comment about...

Union minister Narayan Rane was on Tuesday granted bail by a court in Maharashtra’s Mahad city, hours after his arrest for a comment about slapping Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, PTI reported. Rane told the court that the accusations against him were politically motivated and that he was arrested without notice, NDTV reported.
Rane will have to appear for questioning before the police on August 31 and September 13, his lawyer Sangram Desai told ANI. “He [Rane] has also been told not to do such a thing in future,” Desai added, according to NDTV.
Rane, who is from the Bharatiya Janata Party, had made the remark at an event in Raigad on Monday. He claimed that Thackeray had forgotten the year of independence during his August 15 speech.
“It is shameful that the chief minister does not know the year of independence,” Rane had said, according to PTI. “He leaned back to enquire about the count of years of independence during his speech. Had I been there, I would have given [him] a tight slap.”
The Union minister’s comment triggered a huge controversy in Maharashtra on Tuesday. Several cases were filed against him.
In Nashik, Shiv Sena workers threw stones at the BJP’s office. Some others, on their way to Rane’s home...