MUMBAI (Agencies) - In a pre-dawn arrest, firebrand Indian politician Raj Thackeray was picked up by police and faced a litany of charges including inciting violence and will spend the night in a lock-up despite getting bail in one case sparking sporadic violence in Mumbai and parts of Maharashtra, according to the Indian media. Facing intense pressure to rein in Raj Thackeray, leader of the nationalist Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) or Maharashtra Reconstruction Army, for his anti-north Indian tirade, the Maharashtra government finally effected the arrest at 3:30 am in Ratnagiri, about 200km from Mumbai, in four separate cases of attack on 'outsider' candidates appearing for a railway recruitment exam by MNS activists in Mumbai on Sunday. Raj, who had dared the Deshmukh government to arrest him, was produced before the metropolitan court in Bandra which granted him bail in one of the cases in the suburb but police quickly took him back in custody for a similar case in neighbouring Dombivali, in Thane district and whisked him away. Since he could not reach in time, Raj will be produced before a court in Kalyan on Wednesday (today) and will have to spend the night in Manpada police station in Dombivali, his lawyers said. Raj was charged under sections 153, 353, 336, 425, 427 of IPC relating to rioting, assault, damage to property and mischief. According to Special Public Prosecutor Majid Memon, Raj will spend the night in jail. Memon said, "No one is above law. You might be the star political leader, but you are answerable to court." The lawyer said he emphasised to the court "the gravity of Raj's crime." Raj has four cases registered against him including those at Kherwadi and Kanjurmarg in Mumbai and one at Thane and Dombivali, Memon said. In Kherwadi case, Thackeray has been charged with provoking riot, assaulting public servants, endangering public safety of others, causing mischief and damage to property. Shortly after the arrest, MNS activists went on a rampage in parts of Mumbai, Nashik, Solapur and Kolhapur attacking shops and pelting stones at scores of buses and taxis. A toll booth in Mulund was targeted and one of the counters was set on fire, police said. Police made about 2,000 preventive arrests and resorted to lathi-charge at several places. Seventy-six people were arrested in connection with the violence in the city following the arrest of MNS leader Raj Thackeray and over 900 others have been placed under preventive arrest, city police commissioner said. "In suburban Bandra we have arrested 70 people for rioting and arson and six persons were picked up from different parts of the city for their involvement in acts of vandalism and over 900 others have been placed under preventive arrest," Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gaffoor said. Miscreants attempted to burn two trucks and an autorickshaw in the northwest suburb of Borivali and burnt one booth of a toll centre in northeast Mulund. While three BEST and a private bus were damaged, three other instances were reported where auto rickshaws were damaged in the city. A large crowd of MNS activists also blocked the nearby Western Express Highway in the afternoon and indulged in stone pelting on police personnel resulting in cane charging of them. However, the crowd consisting of about 400 people gathered again and marched to the courthouse, pelted stones and dispersed.