Hanuman Chalisa row: MP Navneet Rana discharged from hospital; challenges CM Thackeray

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Hanuman Chalisa row: MP Navneet Rana has been discharged from the Lilawati Hospital on Sunday. Chants of 'Jai Shri Ram' were heard the MP was discharged with a 'Hanuman Chalisa' in hand. Arrested Lok Sabha MP Navneet Rana was admitted to JJ Hospital in Mumbai from Byculla jail on Thursday morning for her spondylosis treatment.

Navneet, 36, challenged Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray to contest and win any seat of his choice in the state as she would stand against him in the upcoming elections. She also announced plans to campaign for the ensuing BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation elections and uproot what she alleged was the 'Lanka of corruption' built by the Shiv Sena which is ruling it for over two decades. "If chanting Hanuman Chalisa is a crime, then why only 14 days, I am ready to go to jail for 14 years," declared Navneet, who stepped out on bail after 12 days in jail and had to be admitted to a private hospital for treatment, where the BJP's Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis called on her on Saturday evening.

Though the Court had barred her from speaking to the media, she told mediapersons that she was allegedly ill-treated by the authorities at the Byculla Women Jail, forced to lie on a mat on the floor, and slammed the Sena and its leaders.

Referring to Sena MP and Chief Spokesperson Sanjay Raut, Navneet warned: "That 'Popat' (parrot) said in Nagpur that he would bury me 20 feet undergrounda Wait and see, with the Lanka of corruption they have erected in the BMC, the people of Mumbai and Maharashtra will dump them 20 feet below the earth."

The arrest

The Amravati MP and her MLA husband Ravi Rana were arrested by the Mumbai Police last month following their public declaration of reciting the Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's private residence 'Matoshree' in Bandra. Navneet was lodged in Byculla women's prison

Although the couple had eventually dropped their plan to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Uddhav's residence, the Mumbai Police had registered an FIR against them on charges of sedition and promoting enmity. Ravi is currently lodged in Taloja jail.

According to Navneet's lawyer, she was made to sit and sleep for long hours on the floor of the jail due to which her spondylosis got aggravated. In a letter addressed to the Byculla Jail authorities, the lawyer of the former model-actor said that his client was sent to JJ Hospital for examination and treatment on April 27 only after repeated complaints.

The lawyer said that the doctor at JJ Hospital had prescribed a CT scan to evaluate the gravity of spondylosis.

Read More | Hanuman Chalisa row: Navneet, husband Ravi Rana walk free from Byculla Jail 

(with agencies inputs)