MUMBAI: Congress MLA Nitesh Rane was arrested by Maharashtra Police on Thursday for leading a mud attack on a deputy engineer while inspecting a highway in Maharashtra.

Nitesh, the son of former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane , was caught on camera pouring mud to protest the poor condition of the Mumbai-Goa highway.

The incident, after which an FIR was filed against Nitesh Rane, took place at Kankavli, his assembly constituency in the coastal district of Sindhudurg.

"He has been taken into police custody in this case," said Dikshit Gedam, Superintendent of Police of Sindhudurg, told PTI.

In the video clip that has gone viral on social media, Nitesh Rane and Kankavli Municipal Council president Samir Nalawade are purportedly seen tying deputy engineer Prakash Khedekar of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to the railing of a bridge and pouring buckets of mud on him.

On a complaint filed by the engineer, an offence under IPC section 353 (assault on government servant) was registered against Nitesh Rane and his supporters, police said.

After outrage from all quarters against the incident, Narayan Rane apologised for his son's actions.

"I apologise for my son's act of pouring mud on a government official. The protest (against poor condition of the highway) was for the local people," the former chief minister told PTI.

The incident comes days after BJP MLA Akash Vijayvargiya, son of senior leader Kailash Vijayavargiya, was caught on camera assaulting a civic official in Indore with a cricket bat.



In Video: Congress MLA Nitesh Rane instigates mob to throw mud water on engineer, tie him up as 'punishment' for bad roads