News

TOI : PUNE: A Mumbai-based builder and estate agent, Rajesh Sashikant Nanawati (58), was allegedly held captive at gunpoint on Saturday and forced to sign on cancellation papers of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) related to the purchase of 200 acres of land near Chakan. The incident took place at a well-known luxury hotel in Shivajinagar, the police said.

The police have registered criminal offences against five people. They include Pune-based industrialists Lakshaman Devrao Ganage of Model Colony and Prashant Ganage of Chinchwad, Yogesh Deshmukh alias Pradip Bade of Latur, Vishal Kale alias Vijay Kale of Shivajinagar and Prashant Jadhav from Pune.

According to the anti-extortion cell, Nanawati was kept in one of the rooms of the hotel from 11 pm on January 19 to 3 am on January 20. He was forced to sign the document. The MOU had been signed between Ganage and Nanawati in May 2007. Ganage had agreed to sell the land to Nanawati at a rate of around 35 lakh per acre. Nanawati had given a cheque Rs 3 crore to the accused and had taken possession of 16 acres of land. Ganage had told Nanawati to take the remaining land directly from the farmers, after which a quarrel between the two took place.

According to the police, the accused had also forced Nanawati to sign on three receipts of Rs 24 lakh each and demanded Rs 25 lakh as ransom…More

TOI : PUNE: The commissioner of police on behalf of the Pune police submitted a written report to the additional sessions court on Friday, saying that Pakistan’s Inter Intelligence Services (ISI) agent, Mohammed Syed Desai, had gone missing.

The report was submitted to the additional sessions court judge S.P. Hayatnagarkar. While arguing on deportation of Desai and the role of Pune police in deportation, public prosecutor Chandrakant Kulkarni said that the Union government has a right to deport Desai to Pakistan.

As the probe in this case has been done by the CBI, the commissioner of police, Pune, has no direct involvement in deportation.

The lawyer of the accused Vidhyadhar Koshe took objection on the revision petition filed by the commissioner of police, saying the certified copy has not been submitted to the court, sources from the court said.

Meanwhile, the Pune police are still clueless about the whereabouts of Desai. Further proceeding in this case will take place on Monday.

Desai, who was released from the Yerwada central prison on October 27, 2007, after serving his term for a spying offence, has sent the police in a tizzy as he is missing now. He was under surveillance at the at the Sahakarnagar police station for last three months…More

TOI : PUNE: A heroic bid to save the lives of children travelling in an autorickshaw cost 41-year-old Jitendra Mete his life on Friday morning. Mete, a resident of Basant Bahar, near Janwadi Janata Vasahat, was the owner of Priya Tourist, a tourist vehicles agency.

On Friday morning, around 10.30 am, Mete was out cleaning a tourist bus he owned, which was parked on a slope opposite his house which is next to a kindergarten school. A stone was placed against the wheels, to act as a wedge to prevent the vehicle from moving downhill.

When Mete moved out to clean the windshield of the vehicle, the vehicle accidentally slipped into neutral and started moving down the slope. Just ahead, round the corner, students from the school were leaving and some were already sitting in a autorickshaw parked just behind the bus.

As the bus started moving down the slope, a panicked Mete first tried to stop it by trying to steer it away and then by physically trying to stop it. In his attempt to move the bus away, Mete himself came under the wheels of his own vehicle and died on the spot, said local residents, adding that it was only his heroic action that prevented a major tragedy from taking place.

A pall of gloom descended on the area and a large crowd of friends and relatives gathered outside the Mete residence in the evening…More

TOI : PUNE: A massive 30 per cent hike in municipal water taxes has been proposed by civic chief Pravinsinh Pardeshi for 2008-09.

In the proposal, tax rates have been hiked from Rs 3 per kilolitre to Rs 4 per kilolitre for residential use in Pune city limits and from Rs 5 to Rs 6.50 for residential use in Pune and Khadki cantonment limits.

Taxes for non-residential use have been hiked from a flat rate of Rs 21 to a minimum of Rs 27.50 and a maximum of Rs 75 per kilolitre.

The proposal has been tabled before the Pune Municipal Corporation’s standing committee.

Interestingly, it was just two days ago that the elected members had lashed out at the civic administration for poor distribution network and lack of water supply in fringe areas.

However, Pardeshi argues that the move was made since there has been no hike in water taxes since 2000. In the proposal he says that due to the rapid rise in the city’s population, the civic body has undertaken to implement water projects worth Rs 200 crore. Moreover, the PMC spends nearly Rs 25 to 30 crore every year as capital expenditure for water supply.

Pardeshi has stated that it is inevitable that the rates be hiked since there has to be a balance between expenditure on water projects and the income from water taxes.

The proposal also includes a steep hike in tax on use of municipal water for construction purposes from Rs 65 per sq m to Rs 150 per sq m. The move has been justified on the grounds that the water used for construction purposed is purified by the PMC.

The civic chief has also said that within a year, the PMC will also implement a 100 per cent metering system in the…More

TOI : PUNE: Four police officers, including additional commissioners Vivek Phansalkar and Vinod Satav, were chosen for the President’s medal for their meritorious services. Deputy superintendent, Anti Corruption Bureau, Sanpant Tatyasaheb Kadam and constable Vilas Vitthal Jagtap were the other recipients.

An engineering graduate, Phansalkar joined the police in 1989. He started his career as an assistant superintendent in Akola district where he handled very serious law and order issues related to the Babri masjid demolition. The other posts he held include aide-de-camp to the governor; superintendent of police, Wardha; DCP, Nashik and SP, CID. Phansalkar was also served UN monitor/member of the internal police task the Force in the UN mission.

Vinod Satav started his career as sub-inspector in 1975. He has shouldered various responsibilities in Pune, Thane, state transport department and at the police training school. His steps against gangwar got recognition from various sections. Satav has been awarded the President’s medal in 1996 also, besides as many as 860 other awards.

Kadam joined the police force in 1984 as sub-inspector. His efforts in maintaining the communal harmony in the sensitive areas of Kalyan and Bhiwandi during the Babri masjid demolition issue were widely acclaimed. He has played a major role in the multi-crore stamp paper scam by finding 72 bank accounts of Abdul Karim Telgi and others.

Constable Jagtap, currently associated with the Pune police control room, joined the department in 1986 and has served at various police stations…More