Goa minister said to pay Rs 1.5 lakh to legal aid fund

Panaji, Aug 10 : The Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court on Thursday directed Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane to deposit Rs 1.5 lakh towards the state legal aid fund, while disposing a 10-year-old case in which the minister was accused.
A spokesperson for the High Court bench told reporters that Rane paid the money by demand draft.
The order by Justices C.V. Bhadang and Prithviraj Chavan comes a few weeks after a city lawyer-activist Aires Rodrigues, who in 2007 had complained that Rane had threatened him with death, told the court that he had no objection to a petition moved by Rane seeking closure of the case.
"The petitioner is permitted to deposit Rs 1.5 lakh with the State Legal Aid Fund," the one-line order reads.
Rane was booked under section 506 (ii) of the Indian Penal Code.
Vishwajit, son of former Goa Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane, is currently a Health Minister in the BJP-led coalition government. He is contesting a by-election from the Valpoi assembly constituency later this month.