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IndianExpress: The 77-year-old Deccan Queen, travelling the distance from Pune to Mumbai and back everyday, is like a home to most commuters. And when it was torched on November 30 at Ulhasnagar, filled most with a sense of grief and helplessness.

Having commenced the its journey across the ghat on June 1, 1930, as the ‘Dakkhan Ki Rani’, it was the first train of its kind to receive an ISO 9000 certification.

The rakes of the train — they are currently kept at the Matunga yard in Mumbai — now await a new lease of life. Harsha Shah, president, Railway Pravasi Sangh, said: “The train was conceptualised for the governors and people of high rank in the British Government for their travel in the Maharashtra belt. When the train would to halt at Khadki, people used to throng the station to catch a glimpse.’’

IndianExpress: Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday came down heavily against the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for failing to upgrade the infrastructure in the city. Speaking to Congress workers during his visit to Congress House, Chidambaram cautioned that more investments would not come to Pune unless the quality of civic amenities and infrastructure were improved.

Chidambaram expressed his dissatisfaction over bad roads, polluted river and incomplete flyovers in the city. “Pune is growing fast. Investments would not come here until the infrastructure is improved,” he said.

He said the perception that India was a poor country was wrong although the number of people below poverty line was high. He said India was moving in the right direction and was making progress rapidly.

IndianExpress: Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday came down heavily against the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for failing to upgrade the infrastructure in the city. Speaking to Congress workers during his visit to Congress House, Chidambaram cautioned that more investments would not come to Pune unless the quality of civic amenities and infrastructure were improved.

Chidambaram expressed his dissatisfaction over bad roads, polluted river and incomplete flyovers in the city. “Pune is growing fast. Investments would not come here until the infrastructure is improved,” he said.

He said the perception that India was a poor country was wrong although the number of people below poverty line was high. He said India was moving in the right direction and was making progress rapidly.

IndianExpress: In a fresh case of physical abuse against domestic help by their employers, 12-year-old Manju Kumari Sumer Vashi was admitted to Sassoon Hospital last Tuesday with a minor fracture on her left shoulder. The Yerawada police on Saturday arrested her employers Mohit Jagdish Wadhwa (31) and his wife Namrata (28) for allegedly beating up Manju and causing grievous injury after she lodged a complaint. They were granted bail by a local court on Saturday.

PSI Popat Karpe of Yerawada police station said, “She was beaten by the couple. She has a fractured shoulder.’’

On October 12, 14-year-old Krishna Kamal Pandey, working as a domestic help, at the house of a prominent city businessman, reached Janwadi police chowkey and lodged a complaint saying his head had been bashed with tongs used in the kitchen by his employer’s wife. The police filed a case under sections 14 of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986 and section 323 of Indian Penal Code against the wife of his employer, Anuj Bhandari, who lives at Rohan Garima Society, near Janwadi.

IndianExpress: The anti-extortion cell of the city police crime branch, on Saturday arrested three persons for allegedly abducting a real estate agent on Saturday. A team led by AEC chief PI Bhanupratap Barge arrested three persons identified as Prakash Chavan (23), Aman Shweta (27), resident of Bandra West and Yuvaraj Tupe (26) for allegedly abducting Dhananjay Wamanrao Pandit (40) on Thursday from his residence at Amar Sai building at Mahadeonagar in Hadapsar. The arrests were made after Pandit’s wife Surekha (39) approached Additional Commissioner Rajendra Singh on Saturday.

According to Barge, Shweta, a teleserial actor and Pandit were partners of Lotus Blooming Developers. Shweta had purchased 9 gunthas land in in Chinchwad and wanted to purchase 13 acres in Survey no 158 in Chinchwad, whose power of attorney was with Pandit. A deal was fixed with the landowner at a price of Rs 5 crore for which Pandit and Shweta became partners. Meanwhile, Chavan and Shweta agreed to become partners instead of Pandit, leading to a dispute. Chavan and Shweta allegedly abducted Pandit and took him to Chavan’s crusher factory at Wagholi and assaulted him. Later they allegedly locked him a bungalow in Hadapsar and confined him into a rented flat in Wanavdi from where he made a call to his wife and informing her of his abduction, which led to his subsequent release.