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TOI : PUNE: The four suspects who were arrested for robbing two couples near Kalwad vasti in Lohegaon on Wednesday have confessed to committing two more robberies at the same location last month.

The Yerwada police had arrested Anil More, Sachin Kinojia, Pradeep Madhukar and Amore Tujare for robbing two students and their girlfriends on Tuesday night. Senior police inspector Prasad Hasbanis said they have recovered three mobile phones and a digital camera worth Rs 56,000 from the gang.

Later, the accused confessed that they had also robbed one Nishant Sable (27) of his mobile phone and Rs 500 after threatening him with sharp weapons.

Later, Omkar Bhanushali (17) and Varun Sanghvi (17) from Shaniwar Peth filed a complaint with the Yerwada police claiming that the suspects had taken away two mobile phones worth Rs 15,000 from them on the night of Dec 22…More

TOI : PUNE: A woman, who reportedly gave birth to a dead foetus at Sassoon hospital 15 days ago, tried to strangle the nurse attending on her on Friday.

The 32-year-old woman had given birth to a stillborn baby before falling unconscious. Fifteen days later, on Friday last, when she regained consciousness,

she asked the nurse to show her the baby. When she was told about the unfortunate incident, she became hysterical and tried to strangulate the nurse.

The Sassoon management approached the Bund Garden police and asked for assistance to move the woman to another ward treating mentally-disturbed patients. The woman was discharged on Saturday, said police inspector Mahendra Pardeshi of the Bund Garden police.

Police sub-inspector S.L. Dubal confirmed that the woman was discharged as she did not show any signs of mental disturbance. This was her fourth failed delivery…More

TOI : PUNE: The Dehu Road Cantonment Board (DCB) will give away school uniforms to students of DCB-run schools from June 2008, when the next academic year begins.

Rajendra Pawar, chief executive officer (CEO), DCB, made this announcement at a function held to distribute sweaters through the Prayas fund. The function was held at the Mahatma Gandhi primary school in Dehu Road on Saturday.

Later, speaking to TOI, Pawar said that the DCB did not distribute free school uniforms to students but that it now plans to do. Students up to Std VIII in cantonment-run schools, some 2,500 in number, are expected to benefit from it.

Addressing the gathering at the function Pawar said that the Prayas fund was created through voluntary donations by cantonment employees and philanthropists from the cantonment limits. He also said that the cantonment had built a volleyball court at the cantonment office and had started a volleyball club. A polio vaccination drive would be held in the DCB limits on January 6, Pawar added.

Brig. S K Mohan, president of the DCB called on cantonment-run schools to identify four students who perform well in various fields like academics, sports and cultural programmes and send the list to the cantonment office. The DCB will help the students in their higher education. The DCB plans to help 20 such students from cantonment-run schools every year in the next five years…More

TOI : PUNE: Major road development projects in the city that have hit roadblocks due to the religious structures and statues on roads are set to get a push soon. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has framed a policy for relocating the authorised structures and initiating action against the unauthorised ones.

This is for the first time that a policy pertaining to religious structures and statues is being framed by the PMC to expedite road development projects and avoid disputes. The policy will soon be tabled before the civic standing committee for approval. The PMC has faced stiff opposition in the last few months while removing such structures. In one of the cases, the mob opposing PMC’s action had turned violent.

Speaking to TOI, deputy commissioner Suraj Mandhare, incharge of land acquisition and estates department, said the policy would help expedite the process as the PMC would now have a lawful framework, based on which it can enforce its actions.

“Our policy is based on the directives by the Bombay High Court on how the issue is to be tackled as religious sentiments of people are attached to the structures,” Mandhare said.

Explaining the policy, Mandhare said all structures that are obstructing development projects will be grouped into three categories. “Authorised structures registered with the charity commissioner will form one group. Unauthorised structures on private land and on public land will be the other two categories. Different actions will be initiated for each group.”

He said compensation would be given for relocating the authorised structures. Unauthorised structures on private land would be allowed to be rebuilt at another spot, but no compensation would be given, while unauthorised structures on public land would be pulled down…More

TOI : PUNE: Marathi actor Ramesh Bhatkar and others, who allegedly sought sexual favours from a 17-year-old girl, got a major reprieve on Saturday when the Pune fast-track court extended their interim anticipatory bail till January 9.

The other accused whose bail has been extended are film director Ravi Naidu, Congressman Bhagwan Wairat, the victims’ uncle Dilip Kaware and aunt Jayashree Kaware. It was only Wairat who appeared before the court, while the other accused including Bhatkar sought exemption from appearance.

When the bail applications came up for hearing before the fast-track court judge Sanjay Patil, additional public prosecutor D Y Jadhav demanded that Bhatkar and other accused should remain present before the court. Jadhav also filed an application urging the court to direct the accused to remain present on the next date of hearing.

Countering the prosecution, defence lawyers Vijay Nahar, S K Jain, Harshad Nimbalkar, Sudhir Shah, Pankaj Naigaonkar, Biju Aloor and Jayamika Jahagirdhar argued that there was no provision in law that their clients should appear before the court. More so because then fast-track court judge V V Virkar had last month granted interim bail to Bhatkar and others without specifying the period of bail, they said.

Meanwhile, the court allowed the intervention applications filed by advocates Vivek Chavan and Baban Salve on behalf of the victim and her mother to cancel the bail pleas of the accused.

Special security cover was provided to fast-track court judge Sanjay Patil when the bail applications came up for hearing. It was for the first time that a judge was given security cover in a bail proceeding.

Security was beefed up on the court premises to avert any untoward incident as hundreds of people had assembled there since afternoon…More