MUMBAI: Independent Member of Parliament from Vidharbha Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana were sent by a holiday magistrate on Sunday to judicial custody for 14 days following their arrest on Saturday for allegedly breaching or attempting to the communal peace in the city.
The police in its remand plea said on Sunday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be arriving in Mumbai and despite being aware of his visit, it has to be investigated whether the couple wanted to disrupt the peace in the community and promote enmity between different groups.
“Mumbai is the financial capital of India,’’ said the police, adding they need to investigate whether the Ranas knowingly wanted to promote communal disharmony and cause a situation amenable to riots in the city.
The magistrate A A Ghaniwale rejected the Mumbai police request for their police custody for “maximum possible” time, not satisfied with its reasons for such custody.

The magistrate asked the public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat why did the police want their custody. He said for their probe and further investigation . The court also asked if they had to recover anything from the couple or whether anything was missing, lawyers said later outside as the media was barred entry inside court by the police.
There was a large police deployment outside with cops asking media reporters to remain behind high iron barricades.

The arrest was made by Khar police. It followed a high voltage face-off between the Shiv Sena and the Independent MLA and his wife over reciting the Hanuman Chalisa outside the Thackeray family home.
Rana’s counsel Rizwan Merchant opposed the plea for police custody and questioned the very arrest calling it illegal. He questioned the invocation of section 124A IPC for offence of sedition by the police in the FIR. He said there was nothing uttered that would justify slapping sedition on them.

The magistrate after hearing both sides passed an order by writing it out in his own handwriting as court was closed.
The couple then immediately filed for bail and the court sought a say of the public prosecutor by April 27 and posted it for hearing on April 29.
The remand application submitted by the public prosecutor said that the couple were attempting to cause an “explosive situation” when the tensions were already high over the issue of loudspeakers at masjids.
The application which was filed in Marathi said, “right now all over Maharashtra the issue of loudspeakers and the demand of lowering their volume has been initiated by some political factions . In such explosive environ, the accused not only said they would come to Mumbai and sing the Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree but they actually came to Mumbai and created an explosive situation and hence the law and order situation could take a turn for the worse.’’
The police had already issued a notice under section 149 Criminal procedure code to maintain peace in society but they gave inflammatory media interviews and told media about their plan to visit Matoshree bungalow and recite the Chalisa and hence investigation is required into this aspect, said the remand.
The couple had on Saturday demanded an FIR be registered against chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and senior Shiv Sena leaders.
Police later registered an FIR against Shiv sainiks for assembling outside the Rana residence.
Merchant also raised questions over a second FIR that was filed against the Ranas by the police under section 353 of IPC for alleged assault of a public servant to prevent him or her from doing their duty. He said the second FIR was registered on April24 at 2.06 am, eight hours after returning back to the police station from their residence after effecting their arrest. “Why wait for eight hours? Why not register it along with the first?’’ asked Merchant.
He also said that his arguments mentioned, “Chanting of Hanuman Chalisa doesn’t fit within the ambit of either 153A, IPC (promoting disharmony) or 124A (sedition), in as much as it’s a way of praising Lord Ram in whom even the aggrieved political party has faith and belief. It was rather expected that they should’ve joined the Ranas in jointly chanting the hanuman Chalisa & praising Lord Ram thereby, instead of making a political issue out of it, only to nurse a political grudge and vendetta against the Ranas and the BJP.”
Through the day on Saturday, Shiv Sainiks had surrounded both the Rana’s residence in Khar west and the Thackeray residence, Matoshree at Bandra East.
Shortly before their arrest, the couple had said they were dropping their plans in view of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Mumbai on Sunday.
The Khar police filed an FIR against Navneet and Ravi Rana under section 153 (A) of IPC besides provisions of Bombay Police Act. The couple will spent a night in the Santacruz police station lock-up.