The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday gave another breather to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, staying his arrest till the next hearing. Earlier, on February 4, the court had stayed Raj's arrest till February 17.

Raj's lawyer argued in front the bench comprising Justice A V Potdar that his client was arrested by the Mumbai police from Ratnagiri, when a state transport bus was pelted with stones in Badnapur tehsil of Jalna district on October 21, allegedly by a group of MNS activists.

The lawyer also argued that the summon issued by Badnapur Judicial Magistrate First Class to Raj was served to his personal assistant, which shows that the summons was not served to his client. The high court passed the order that the Badnapur police should not arrest Raj till the next date.

A case was registered against Raj by the Badnapur police after the stone pelting incident. On December 5, 2009, JMFC Badnapur issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Raj, rejecting the plea to stay it.