Kalyan (Maharashtra): Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray has been granted bail on a surety of Rs one lakh in the 2008 rioting case in which his workers went on a rampage, targeting youths from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, who had come to appear for the railway entrance exam.
Fifty four cases were filed against Thackeray and MNS workers. The Bombay High Court had rejected his anticipatory bail on June 16.
Earlier, complying with a Bombay High Court directive, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray surrendered before a court in connection with a 2008 rioting case in which north Indians appearing for railway recruitment examination were assaulted.
After presenting himself before the court, Thackeray, who was accompanied by his wife, moved an application saying he was surrendering.
Thackeray is likely to move for bail on Monday itself. The court will hear the prosecution and the leader before deciding the bail plea.
The High Court had on June 16 set aside the anticipatory bail granted to Thackeray in the same case by a lower court and asked him to surrender before the concerned court by June end.
The Maharashtra government had filed an appeal in the High Court challenging the interim anticipatory bail granted to the MNS leader. Justice Rekha Sondurbaldota had noted that custodial interrogation of Thackeray was not necessary at this stage.
Upholding the State government's contention that the Kalyan sessions court's order granting anticipatory bail to MNS chief had become infructuous as he had already been arrested by the Railway police, the High Court quashed the lower court order granting interim protection to Thackeray.
The matter pertains to assault by MNS workers on north Indian youths who had come to Kalyan in neighbouring Thane district for Railway recruitment examination on October 19 last year.