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House of Shiv Sena leader Narayan Rane torched

The house of former Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena leader Narayan Rane was set ablaze following a clash between Sena activists and the Nationalist Congress Party workers in Kankavli town of Sindhudurg district on Friday night, the police said on Saturday.

The clash took place after a local NCP leader, Satyavijay Bhise, was killed after he won the Kalsuli Gram Panchayat polls.

As the news of Bhise's killing spread, the NCP supporters gathered in large numbers and torched properties belonging to Sena leaders and supporters.

The furniture in Rane's house and a vehicle parked in the compound were gutted.

A fire engine summoned to douse the blaze was damaged by the mob. A petrol pump reportedly belonging to Rane was also torched by the mob, besides a few shops owned by Sena leader Atul Shetye, the police said.

Bhise's three associates who sustained serious stab wounds in the clash have been admitted to hospital, the police said.

The police have arrested former Shiv Sena chief of Sindhudurg district Rajan Krishna Teli in connection with Bhise's murder.

The situation in the town was tense and the Special Reserved Police have been requisitioned to bring the situation under control, the police said, adding 50 policemen from Raigad district have been rushed to the town.

On hearing the news of arson and clashes, Rane rushed to Kankavli from Aurangabad where he had gone to spearhead his party's programme against government's alleged apathy towards problems of people.

Prohibitory orders, banning assembly of five or more persons were clamped in the town following clashes between the NCP and Sena workers.

Twenty-five activists of Sena and an equal number of NCP workers have been arrested, a police spokesman in Mumbai said.

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