News Analysis India

Tag: Maharashtra

  • Cops save two women from committing suicide in Thane

    By PTI
    THANE: Police have saved lives of two women who tried to commit suicide at separate places here in Maharashtra, officials said on Wednesday.

    Both the incidents took place on Tuesday and the women were found to be depressed due to domestic and other issues, they said.

    An assistant police inspector from Titwala police station said he was passing by the Raita river bridge when he saw a woman, later identified as a 60-year-old resident of Kalyan town, trying to jump from it into the water body.

    As she attempted to jump, her saree got entangled in a rod of a bridge pillar.

    While she was trying to pull away her dress from the rod, the policeman rushed there and rescued her, the official said.

    The woman later told the police that she wanted to commit suicide as she was fed up of her life, he said.

    In another incident, a 45-year-old woman jumped into the Versova creek from a bridge here on Tuesday afternoon, a release from the Mira-Bhayander Vasai-Virar (MBVV) police commissionerate said.

    A constable from the MBVV police, who saw the woman trying to take the extreme step, immediately jumped into the creek and brought her out of the water, it said.

    The woman was upset due to some domestic issues, the police added.

    (If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call AASRA’s 24×7 Helpline: +91-9820466726 for assistance)

  • Fire at private hall in Maharashtra’s Thane; no casualty

    By PTI
    THANE: A fire broke out in a hall used to hold spiritual discoursesin Maharashtra’s Thane city on Wednesday, a civic official said.

    No one was injured in the blaze which erupted around 12.

    15 am in the private hall located in Panchpakhadi area, Thane civic body’s regional disaster management cell chief Santosh Kadam said.

    The premises was destroyed in the blaze, he said, adding that three fire engines were rushed to the spot and the flames were doused by around 2.30 am.

    A probe into the cause of the fire is underway, he added.

  • Maharashtra plan to invoke Official Secrets Act

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government would seek legal and expert opinion on whether Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami could be booked under the Official Secrets Act for disclosing sensitive information on Balakot strike three days before it took place. The government’s decision follows the surfacing of a purported WhatsApp chat between ex-CEO of BARC and Arnab Goswami.

    Maharashtra Home minister Anil Deshmukh said that they have taken a serious note of Arnab Goswami’s chat.

    “We have decided to seek legal and expert opinion on whether Arnab Goswami can be booked and arrested under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly sharing classified military information.  We cannot comprise on national security. We have to find out with who else he has shared the information. Besides, we need to trace the source of this crucial information, and whether it was limited to Arnab and Partho Dasgupta,” Deshmukh said.

    Deshmukh said that the chats came into notice during the Mumbai police’s probe into the alleged TRP scam. 

  • Maharashtra: Court acquits teacher of abetting student’s suicide

    By PTI
    PALGHAR: A court here in Maharashtra has acquitted a 35-year-old school teacher of charges of abetting the suicide of a teen-aged student in 2014.

    In an order issued on January 15, a copy of which was made available on Monday, additional sessions judge S S Gulhane said questioning a student does not amount to abetment of suicide.

    The judge also said that the prosecution failed to prove the charge under Indian Penal Code Section 305 (abetment of suicide of person below 18 years of age) against the accused, a mathematics teacher at an ashram school located in Talasari taluka of Palghar.

    According to the prosecution, the victim, who was studying in Class 10 at the school, allegedly hanged himself from the ceiling of his house in Talasari.

    Some of his classmates later told the boy’s father that when the accused teacher had enquired about marks of students in the maths exam, the victim lied to say he got more marks, though he had actually received less marks.

    The teacher then enquired if his father had asked him to tell the lie.

    He also asked the boy to call his father to school, but the victim refused to do so.

    The teacher then asked the victim and other students who had lied about their marks to go to the headmaster.

    According to the prosecution, the victim felt humiliated by the teacher’s questioning and committed suicide.

    In his order, the judge said the accused’s act of asking the deceased about his father (if he asked him to tell the lie)and to call the latter to school does not amount to abetment of suicide.

    “There is no men’s rea (intention) on part of the accused to abet the deceased to commit suicide,” he said.

    Being a teacher,it is his job to scold the students who tell lies, the judge said.

    The statement of the accused”is not an instigation and is also notanintentional aid to commit suicide”, the court said in its order.

    It is necessary for the prosecution to establish that by his acts,the applicant/accused could reasonably foresee that because of his conduct, the victim was almost certain, or at least quite likely to commit suicide, the judge said.

    “Unless this is established, a person cannot be charged of having abetted commission ofsuicide,even if the suicide has been committed as a result of some of the acts committed by the accused,” the court said.

  • Injured Jackal strays into medical store in Maharashtra’s Thane; rescued

    By PTI
    THANE: An injured jackal strayed into a medical store in Maharashtra’s Thane city, causing panic among staff at the shop, a civic official said.

    The incident took place on Monday afternoon and the animal did not attack anyone.

    It was later rescued by forest department personnel, Thane civic body’s regional disaster management cell (RDMC) chief Santosh Kadam said.

    The jackal, around two years’ old, entered the medical store located in Kharkar Ali area here around 2.30 pm, the official said.

    The shop employees alerted the RDMC, which in-turn informed forest department authorities.

    Personnel of the forest department with the help of an animal protection association later caught the jackal, the official said.

    As the animal had leg injuries, it was taken to a veterinary hospital ay the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) at Borivali in neighbouring Mumbai, the official said.

    Since the SGNP is located nearby, wild animals sometimes stray into residential areas in the vicinity.

  •  Woman elopes with paramour in Maharashtra, husband files complaint

    By PTI
    THANE: A 35-year-old married woman has allegedly eloped with her paramour hailing from Kalyan in Maharashtra’s Thane district, police said on Monday.

    The woman, who lived with her husband and four minor children in Saki Naka area of neighbouring Mumbai, also took along her five-year-old son, an official from Kalyan taluka police station said.

    As per a police complaint filed on Sunday by her husband, who works as a security supervisor, he and some relatives went to Shirdi on January 7 to attend a marriage, leaving his wife, three daughters and son at home.

    When the man returned home the next day, his wife and son were missing.

    His daughters told him that she had gone to a relative’s place with the son, the official said.

    The man called up the relative and later found the woman had allegedly eloped with her paramour, a resident of Kalyan taluka here, to marry him, he said.

    After failing to trace his wife and son, the man filed a police complaint in Kalyan.

    The police have registered a case under Indian Penal Code Section 363 (kidnapping) and are conducting a probe into it, the official said.

  • Bird flu: Over 2,000 birds to be culled in 2 districts in Maharashtra

    By PTI
    AURANGABAD: Samples of dead hens found in two villages in Parbhani and Beed districts, both in Marathwada region, of Maharashtra have tested positive for bird flu, following which culling of over 2,000 birds is being carried out on Saturday, officials said.

    These samples were taken from Kupta village in Selu tehsil of Parbhani district and from Lokhandi Sawargaon village in Beed district.

    “These spots have been declared as a prohibitory area and culling process has begun there,” officials told PTI.

    They said transportation of poultry products has been stopped in these areas.

    Culling is basically the mass slaughter of domestic poultry birds, such as chickens and ducks, to contain the spread of bird flu.

    During the culling process, all domestic birds in an infected area, where cases of bird flu have been reported, are slaughtered and their remains are buried.

    “Earlier, samples of hens found dead in Kupta and Lokhandi Sawargaon were sent for testing. Their results confirming bird flu returned on Friday night,” officials told.

    “In Kupta, culling process will be undertaken on Saturday, and around 468 birds will be culled,” Collector Deepak Muglikar said.

    In Lokhandi Sawargaon village, about 1,600 birds are expected to be culled, said Dr Ravi Surewad of the Animal Husbandry department “We have formed two teams to carry out culling of birds in Lokhandi Sawargaon village. As the birds to be culled are not from poultries, it will take time to carry out the process. A 2-metre pit is ready. Calcium Carbonate is spread on the bed of this pit. Cervical dislocation of hens is done by our teams and they are placed in this pit,” he said.

    In Maharashtra, 3,949 birds have been found dead since January 8, officials said on Friday.

    Earlier, more than 3,400 poultry birds were culled at Murumba village in Parbhani district after bird flu was confirmed as the cause of death of hundreds of hens there.

    In Kendrewadi and Sukni villages of Latur district, also in Marathwada region, over 11,000 birds were culled earlier to stop the spread of bird flu infection.

    Cases of the avian influenza have been reported from Mumbai, Thane, Parbhani, Latur, Beed and Dapoli (Ratnagiri).

  • NCP will wait for probe outcome in case against Maharashtra Minister Dhananjay Munde: Sharad Pawar

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: NCP president Sharad Pawar on Friday said the party will think of any action against Maharashtra Minister Dhananjay Munde, facing rape accusation, only after the truth comes out post police probe in the matter.

    Munde, the Social Justice Minister and NCP leader, has been accused of rape by a Mumbai-based woman, a charge he has strongly refuted and termed it as a blackmail attempt.

    Pawar told reporters here that the NCP wants an ACP rank woman officer to be part of the police team that will probe the allegations against Munde.

    The former Union ministers comments came in the wake of NCP leaders holding a late Thursday night meeting to discuss the issue.

    At the meeting it was decided to let Munde continue in his post for now and take a call on his fate after the police investigation is completed.

    Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Pawar had termed the allegations levelled by the woman as serious.

    On Thursday, BJP leader Krishna Hegde and Manish Dhuri of the MNS alleged that the same woman had allegedly harassed them, too.

    Pawar on Friday said the claims made by Hegde and Dhuri were not in public domain when he had termed the allegations of the woman against Munde as being serious.

    When we learnt these things (claims of Hegde and Dhuri), we came to a conclusion that the matter has to be probed in detail.

    “We were and are sure that the police department will do that, Pawar said, adding the party will not interfere in the police investigation. The only thing we suggested was that there should at least one woman ACP rank official probing the matter. They should bring to the fore facts after taking information about the complaints. And they should complete the probe as soon as possible,” he added.

    Pawar said possibility that injustice will be meted to one if the matter is not probed in detail cannot be ruled out and hence, the party is waiting for the investigation outcome.

    The NCP president said he has full confidence that the Mumbai Police will bring the truth out.

    Asked about some BJP leaders targeting the NCP over the episode involving Munde, Pawar said it is the right of the opposition to criticise.

    But, he added, it is the responsibility of the NCP to go deep into the matter to know the facts and take the right decision accordingly.

    On the BJP making repeated allegations against NCP leaders like Munde and Nawab Malik (another NCP minister), Pawar attributed the same to the restlessness of the NDA lead constituent after losing power in Maharashtra.

    “It is alright. I can understand the restlessness of those who have lost power. I dont see it as different from targeting those because of whom they feel they lost the power, he added.

    Malik’s son-in-law has been arrested by the NCB in a drugs case.

    Asked about another allegation against Munde that he hid information about having two more children from the relationship with the sister of the complainant woman, Pawar said it needs to be checked and added such cases of hiding information have happened in the country previously.

    It needs to be checked whether he got married for the second time or has more children, but did not share the information.

    Such cases have happened in the country.

    “Even (there are) cases involving the highest people. But I dont want to go into their details,” Pawar said without naming anyone.

  • Nobody is bigger than law, not even a minister: Maharashtra HM Anil Deshmukh

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Nobody is bigger than the law and it will not discriminate against anyone in Maharashtra, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said on Friday, in comments coming in the backdrop of his cabinet colleague Dhananjay Munde facing rape allegations.

    Munde, the Social Justice Minister, has been accused of rape by a Mumbai-based woman.

    The 45-year-old NCP leader has denied the charges and termed them as a blackmail attempt.

    Nobody is bigger than the law, not even a minister.

    The law will not discriminate against anyone in Maharashtra.

    “Our police will probe the matter properly and take proper action against whoever is guilty. The legal process is on,” Deshmukh said.

    Deshmukh, an NCP leader, made the comments while replying to a question from journalists about reports of the womans claim that the police are not cooperating in connection with her complaint against Munde.

    Munde has claimed he is being blackmailed by the woman and her sister.

    He, however, has acknowledged that he was in a relationship with the complainant woman’s sister and has two children with her.

  • Maharashtra Speaker Nana Patole leads race to replace Balasahab Thorat

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Nana Patole has emerged as the frontrunner in the race for Congress’ state presidentship. Patole, along with Vijay Wadettiwar and Nitin Raut, is touted to be young blood the high command is considering to infuse purpose in the state unit, which is increasingly losing ground in Maharashtra. 

    The race began after Sonia Gandhi decided to address the party’s waning fortunes, which coincides with an uptick in Nationalist Congress Party’s standing (NCP), under the incumbent Balasahab Thorat. The Congress seeks stay in the reckoning for the upcoming municipal corporation elections by installing a younger leadership. Sonia Gandhi had deputed Maharashtra H K Patil to consult the elected representatives and prominent leaders, and submit a report.

    While a majority of elected representatives back Thorat, Patole’s proximity to Rahul Gandhi might see him through, highly-placed sources party said. Patole’s aggressive style was noticed when he campaigned for Rahul in Wayanad in the last Lok Sabha election, and offered a spirited resistance to Nitin Gadkari during the 2019 hustings.

    “Patole is the first choice. High command, particularly Rahul Gandhi and general secretary KC Venugopal, are in favour of Patole, who is also an OBC,” sources added. Vijay Wadettiwar, also an OBC leader, is a minister. Wadettiwar is known for aggressive style. If the high command insists on a Dalit face, sources said, Energy Minister Nitin Raut could emerge as a dark horse in the race.