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TOI : PUNE: The crime branch on Saturday solved one of the most heinous murder cases reported in recent times wherein a history-sheeter was brutally murdered and set afire by three persons on suspicion of having an illicit relationship with the wife of one of the accused.

The police have arrested Ganesh Hole (27), Yogesh Dharmadhikari (24) and his brother Rohan (22) all from Dandekar Bridge slums, on charges of murdering Bansidhar Govind alias Rajesh Govind Pardeshi (23) of the same area.

The murder trail started after Swargate police found an unidentified half burnt body at the canal side near P.L. Deshpande Park on Sinhagad road on January 15. Later the victim was identified as Pardeshi, a history-sheeter.

The police suspected that some of Pardeshi’s associates released from the Yerawada central jail last year might have plotted the murder.

A police team led by inspector Vijaysinh Gaikwad nabbed the trio when they were going triple seat on a stolen two-wheeler at Rajendra Nagar on late Friday night.

During interrogation, they admitted their involvement in the murder and said the motive was to avenge Pardeshi’s illicit relationship with Hole’s wife. Gaikwad said that Pardeshi came close to the woman after he started accompanying her for meeting Hole in the jail.

After Hole was released he came to know about the affair. On January 14, Hole invited Pardeshi for a liquor party at the canal side and tanked him. The trio then assaulted Pardeshi and strangled him to death with a wire. His body was wrapped in a bed sheet and set on fire.
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TOI : PUNE: A European national Goren Plasco (33), presently residing at Popular Heights in Koregaon Park, registered a complaint with the Bundgarden police stating that his laptop worth Rs 55,000 and an ATM card were stolen on Thursday.

Plasco and his European friend Natasha Stevnoic were in Pune as tourists. The duo visited Osho Ashram on Thursday and were on the way back home when they met a woman, who was escorted by a man.

The woman had introduced herself as Nisha.

The duo persuaded the tourists to apply mehndi and accompanied them home. The police said that the suspects served liquor to the tourists after which they fell unconscious. When Plasco and his friend regained consciousness on Friday, they found the laptop and ATM card missing.
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TOI : PUNE: Around 40 police officers vowed to develop a more human outlook towards the victims of flesh trade at a workshop organised by the Pune police on anti-human trafficking laws on Thursday.

Additional commissioner of police (administration) Shobha Ohatker said the two-day workshop was aimed at sensitising the police officers towards the victims of prostitution.

“Certain case-studies were presented before the cops. They were also told about the precautions to be taken while recording statements of victims, especially minors,” Ohatker said. Project Co-ordinator of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) P.M. Nair and Preeti Patkar from Mumbai-based Prerna took the sessions.

Nair said that the UNDOC has been conducting sessions for policemen and public prosecutors on anti-human trafficking act. Till date, it has trained around 10,160 police officers and public prosecutors in five states - Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh - in a span of last one and half years.

“The aim is to bring out quality manuals for the law enforcers along with establishing an anti-human trafficking set-up. The workshop also tries to form an NGO-police network,” Nair said.

Nair expressed satisfaction at the results of the workshop. “There has been a sea change in the way cases related to human trafficking and prostitution are being handled. ‘Buyers’ were held and brothel homes closed,” Nair said. The UNDOC also works for rehabilitating the rescued girls, he added.

Nair said that several police officers, who attended the workshop, admitted that they were unaware of certain provisions of law. “We just tried to explain them the prominent features of anti-human trafficking laws. It is all about looking at victim as a victim and not as an accused,” he added.

Around 592 cases of human trafficking were registered in the five states last year. “In 104 operations, 933…More

TOI : PUNE: As new gadgets make entry in the market, experts have sounded caution that virus threat this year would be more than ever.

Rohit Srivastava, an expert on information security, told TOI that attacks from ‘botnets’ were expected to grow this year.

A ‘botnet’ (also known as a ‘zombie army’) is a number of internet computers that, although their owners are unaware of it, have been set up to forward transmissions (including spam or viruses) to other computers on the internet.

“We foresee some attacks from zombie networks,” Srivastava said. “More software-as-a-service websites like Googledocs and Spreadsheet are coming up these days. These and fancy-looking websites of greetings, gaming and cyber pornography have been a major target of attacks in the past and the same will continue in 2008 also.”

Srivastava said attacks may be made to spread malwares and steal people’s financial or personal information.”
According to the expert, identity thefts were on the rise because of the boom in social networking websites.

“We can expect more crime on this front this year. Also, government websites run the risk of increased hacking,” Srivastava cautioned.

McAfee’s Avert Labs had predicted a staggering 60 per cent increase in malware in 2007. They estimate that the total number of malware tracked will reach 55,000 by the end of 2008.

Nearly 75 per cent consumers do not have core protection, such as anti-virus, an enabled firewall and anti-spyware features. This leaves them vulnerable to a range of threats like viruses, spyware, adware, hackers, unwanted e-mails, phishing scams and identity theft.
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TOI : PUNE: The alleged criticism of former deputy prime minister Yashwantrao Chavan during the inauguration of the 81st Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan - the prestigious all India Marathi literary meet - being held at Sangli, had repercussions here in Pune, as a mob of nearly 40 people manhandled former Congress corporator and member of Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad (MSP) working committee Satish Desai and one Purushottam Kale here on Sunday.

According to the Vishrambaug police, the incident took place during the protest rally of Congress-party activists at the MSP office on Tilak road in the afternoon.

It may be noted that Koutikrao Thale-Patil, president of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Mahamandal - the apex Marathi literary body, strongly criticised late Chavan for “leaving the job of Samyukta (combined) Maharashtra incomplete, which resulted in Maharashtra getting fragmented areas, with some parts going to Gujarat and Karnataka”.

The criticism evoked intense reactions in Sangli as well, prompting Thale-Patil to tender an apology on Sunday.

In the incident at the MSP’s Pune office, the mob tried to blacken the faces of Desai and Kale. Though Desai did not register a complaint with the police, the Vishrambaug police station registered a case against the activists for burning an effigy of Thale-Patil.

The mob also raised slogans, and Desai intervened as the protestors tried to burn Thale-Patil’s effigy. He assured that a statement condemning Thale-Patil’s remarks was being issued by the MSP. However, the mob refused to be mollified and manhandled both of them.

“The manhandling incident was unexpected. The Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad has already condemned the statement made by Thale-Patil, and does not have any connection with his statements. The incidence took place when both of us tried to prevent the mob from agitating,” Desai told TOI.

Congress leader Sanjay Balgude said, “We strongly protest against…More