A Sindhudurg court convicted Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane under IPC Section 504 in the 2019 case of throwing muddy water on an NHAI engineer. The court sentenced him to one month in jail but suspended it for appeal. It also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh, with Rs 50,000 as compensation to the engineer.
A sessions court in Sindhudurg convicted Maharashtra cabinet minister and BJP leader Nitesh Rane on April 27, 2026, in the 2019 'mud incident'. The event occurred on July 4, 2019, in Kankavali, where Rane, upset over poor quality work on the Mumbai-Goa highway widening, poured muddy water on NHAI sub-divisional engineer Prakash Shedekar and forced him to walk through mud.
The court sentenced Rane to one month in jail and a fine of Rs 1 lakh under IPC Section 504 for intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, with Rs 50,000 as compensation to the engineer. The other 29 accused were acquitted, and Rane was cleared of charges like rioting, assault on a public servant, and criminal conspiracy. Additional sessions judge V S Deshmukh stated, "Law makers are not supposed to take the law into their own hands."
The court described the act as an abuse of power, noting that such incidents would prevent public servants from discharging duties with dignity. Rane's sentence was suspended to allow time for appeal.
