The metropolitan magistrate of the Vikhroli court granted bail to Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on personal surety of Rs 15,000, and after imposing conditions like not addressing public gatherings, giving interviews to the media or holding press conferences.Thackeray initially refused to accept the conditions to get bail and opted for going to judicial custody. After it became clear that the court will remand him to judicial custody for at least 10 days, Raj consulted his lawyers and decided to apply for bail.Thackeray was arrested by the Mumbai police earlier today for inciting violence against North Indians in Mumbai and across the state.Samajwadi Party's Maharashtra unit president and Rajya Sabha MP Abu Azmi was also arrested by the police for making inflammatory speeches. While Thackeray was taken to Vikorli court, Azmi was produced in Bhoiwada court in the south central Mumbai and granted bail on surety of Rs 10,000.Cases have been registered against Thackeray and Azmi under section 153 and related sections of the IPC in two different police stations in the metropolis for making communally provocative remarks.The arrest of Raj and Azmi became imminent after Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, who also holds the home portfolio, cut short his tour of Vidarbha and called a meeting of top brass of the state police, which was attended by Director General of Police P S Pasricha and Mumbai Police Commissioner Dhananjay Jadhav. Meanwhile, the police made about 1,800 preventive detentions in various parts of the state to prevent any untoward incident in the aftermath of the two arrests, Pasricha said. Speaking to reporters after Raj's arrest, Patil said: "Today's arrests have shown that nobody is above the law."Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said the police have taken the correct step in arresting Raj Thackeray. He ruled out any law and order problem in the wake of Raj Thackeray's arrest, and said the police have taken adequate precaution. "Law will take its course," Deshmukh said.Violence erupted in some parts of the state after the news of Raj's arrest spread, and an employee of Hindustan Aeronauticals Ambadas Dharrao died in Nashik after the bus in which he was returning was attacked by MNS activists.MNS activists torched one state transport corporation bus, and the police foiled the attempts of MNS activists to torch another bus in Nashik.Incidences of sporadic violence were reported from areas like Andheri, Borivali and Kandivali in Mumbai.
