Rane accuses Shiv Sena for cousin's death

Kankavli (Maharashtra), April 20: Maharashtra minister Narayan Rane on Monday accused the Shiv Sena of being behind the kidnapping and murder of his cousin Ankush whose body was found last evening but the Sena immediately rubbished the allegation. Rane alleged that Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and Sindhudurg district chief Vaibhav Naik were responsible for the kidnapping and murder of his cousin Ankush, a farmer, was kidnapped on April 17 and his body was found yesterday. Rane told reporters that he had informed the police about his suspicions about the murder which he alleged was politically motivated. Rejecting Rane's charges, Shiv Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe said "the allegations are nothing but rubbish. Law will take its own course". Rane alleged the conspiracy was hatched to ensure that he is not able to campaign for the Congress-NCP candidates outside Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg parliamentary constituency from where his son Nilesh is contesting against Suresh Prabhu of Shiv Sena. "Election in Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg is a one-sided affair with Shiv Sena not in the reckoning. The conspiracy was hatched to keep me in the constituency itself. But, I will not allow the motives of Shiv Sena to succeed and continue with my campaigning," he said. Rane said his cousin could have been saved if the police had made efforts to find him after his disappearance. "They just searched for his dead body which was found yesterday," he said. He said the murder will not have any effect on the polling on April 23. "People of Sindhudurg are sad over the incident. They look up to me because I work for development." Rane said his cousin was a farmer and had no enemies. "Can Shiv Sena prove its supremacy over the constituency by killing innocent people?" he asked. Speaking in Kolhapur, Opposition leader in Assembly Ramdas Kadam of Shiv Sena rejected Rane's allegations as baseless and politically motivated and demanded that those responsible for the death should be arrested immediately. Addressing a press conference, Kadam said Rane's allegations show that ground is shifting from under his feet ahead of the elections. The Sena leader sought to know why Rane had not been speaking about the earlier murder of Congress activist Shridhar Naik and abduction of Sena worker Ramesh Govekar in Konkan region.