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TOI : PUNE: Apparently upset over his transfer, a police constable shot himself dead with a colleague’s rifle at the Police Parade ground at Shivajinagar here on Thursday afternoon. This is the fourth instance of a policeman ending his life in the city in the last one-and-a-half years.

The constable, Sachin Wavhal (29), had joined the police force only in 2006. After undergoing a year-long training, he had been posted at the Shivajinagar headquarters since the last four months.

The transfer orders for 40 policemen were issued on Thursday and Wavhal, along with 24 other constables at the headquarters, was to be posted at the Yerawada police station. Wavhal’s colleagues, who spoke to TOI, said he was disturbed with the transfer as he was concentrating on his studies for the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) exams.

At around 11 am on Thursday, Wavhal came to the headquarters with his colleague, constable A.D. Chaudar, on the latter’s two-wheeler. Chaudar, who has also been transferred to the Yerawada police station, had been directed to deposit his rifle at the headquarters. He was given the rifle upon his posting for maintaining security at a Bank of India branch.

Chaudar was parking his two-wheeler when Wavhal took his rifle and went behind a toilet near the race track on the ground. Soon thereafter, a shot rang out and Wavhal was found bleeding from the head. The rifle was found next to him. Additional commissioner of police (south region) Vivek Phansalkar said they are trying to analyse the reason for Wavhal ending his life. “He seemed to have been under acute depression,” he added.

Wavhal, who lived at Sangvi, is survived by his parents, a brother and a sister.
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TOI : PUNE: Commodification of water is a hotly discussed issue world-wide. And Pune politicians have already realised that water is the hottest commodity to invest in. Come summer and water tankers in the city do business worth crores of rupees and, not surprisingly, majority of these are owned by politicians who have repeatedly promised a ‘tanker-free’ city.

Corporators, MLAs and local politicos from various parties have invested heavily in water tankers. Ironically, some of the first-time corporators, who won from the plank of water scarcity issues, also have ensured that they are not left behind in the business.

“Besides around 500 PMC tankers, there is scope for 1,000 private tankers. The number goes up mid-summer. It’s a growing business in this growing city,” said a private tanker owner.

The PMC hires tankers every summer through tender system, but usually it is politicians who ‘win’ the tenders. Politicos run their private tankers also. They ensure that on record the tankers are ‘owned’ by their distant relatives or friends.

This leaves doubts in the minds of people about the seriousness of the corporators in solving the problem. Citizens allege that deliberate scarcity is created in some parts of the city so that tankers could do business.

“For the past seven days, we have not received water. The civic officials say that some repair work has affected water supply. When we asked for the PMC’s water tankers, we were told that PMC does not have any. We were asked to purchase water from private water tankers,” one of the residents from a society in Vimannagar told TOI on Thursday.
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TOI : PUNE: Officials of the Citizen Facility Centre (CFC) at the district collectorate and officials of the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday trapped a government contractor, Satyaraj Yakob Nadar, while bribing a senior clerk.

Nadar approached the senior clerk for getting a domicile certificate for his daughter. Since he hadn’t attach all the required documents, the CFC officials asked him to produce documents like his daughter’s bonafide certificate, birth certificate of father and tax receipts of 10 consecutive years to get the domicile certificate.

“Following this, he insisted on getting his work done without submitting the documents and offered to give a bribe of Rs 5,000. We tried to advise him not to resort to such corrupt practices but he persisted. So we decided to trap him with the help of Anti-Corruption Bureau officials,” said Jyoti Kadam, special executive magistrate at the collectorate. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: A gang of seven-eight members allegedly involved in cheating several call centres in Pune, Bangalore, New Delhi and Chennai, of lakhs of rupees was unearthed by the Hadapsar police following the arrest of one of its members on Thursday.

The suspect, identified as Sohail Anwar Meghani (25) of Versova, Mumbai, has been remanded to police custody till March 3 by judicial magistrate first class G.B. Gurao.

Meghani was arrested for allegedly cheating Reletronics Technologies Private Limited at Hadapsar of Rs 15 lakh on the pretext of getting business for them. The deals took place between August and November, 2007.

Meghani, who holds a degree in commerce, is computer savvy and has worked at several call centres in Pune, Hyderabad and Gujarat. He was a team leader when he quit job to start his own business of canvassing business for call centres on commission basis.

Meghani used the internet to get in touch with his accomplices Arun Kumar and Shankaran from Chennai and Krishna Kumar from Indore. He held meetings with them at Pune, Indore and Bangalore to discuss modalities for starting the business.

According to the police, Kumar had introduced Meghani to Reletronics and another call centre at Indore in 2007. Meghani convinced the call centre officials that he will get business for them regularly from abroad.

Reletronics entered into an agreement with Meghani and issued a cheque of Rs 15 lakh in his name. He handed over two post-dated cheques of Rs 8 lakh and Rs 7 lakh to the firm. After encashing the cheques Meghani fled from Pune.

A Reletronics official, Rafique Nabilal Nadaf, suspected some foul play and lodged a complaint on February 12. The police booked Meghani for cheating and criminal breach of trust. The firm had made several attempts to contact Meghani but he avoided…More

TOI : PUNE: One person was shot dead outside his house at Parijaat colony, in Sangvi on Wednesday night. The Sangvi police have detained two persons in connection with the murder.

Sanjay Buniwal (40) was sitting and chatting with his friends, Sanjay Pardhi (32) and Charudatta Lendhe (36), in an open ground near his house and some serious disagreement ensued among them. Pardhi suddenly pulled out a pistol and opened fire at Buniwal.

Buniwal was rushed to a private hospital nearby by his father and wife. However, he was declared dead. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: The economic offences wing (EOW) of the Pune police have booked Sigma Auto Link Private Limited — a company working out of Aurora Towers — for cheating its investors between June and August 2007 on lines of the infamous Unique Fincorp case.

In June 2007, Sigma Auto had placed advertisements in leading newspaper asking people to invest in their scheme. The company had professed its intent to purchase cars, hire it out and the money earned would be disbursed as returns to investors.

Unique Fincorp, based in the Chatushringi area, had similarly asked people to chip in money. During the investigations, the EOW had recovered over Rs 7.5 crore from the company.

Deputy commissioner of police (EOW) Sunil Phulari said the company has duped investors by giving assurances on the lines of Unique Fincorp. “A case has been registered against the Sigma Auto. Their office representatives have shut shop and fled from the city,” he said.

The case came to light when Deepak Jhubarlal Dhunamat (51) of Mukundnagar, who had invested Rs 6.40 lakh on his and his wife’s name, complained to the police.

Dhunamat had also convinced three other friends to invest Rs 7.52 lakh in the company. Failing to receive the promised monthly instalments, they went to the office and found it locked. The complainant then approached the EOW and a case of cheating was filed registered at the Cantonment police station. The police have booked Rakesh and Soniya Rajput from Thane along with Pawar, Arun and Nawab (full name and address not known) in connection with the case.

It has been learnt that Sigma Auto had assured various alternatives to its investors. The promise was that if an individual put in Rs 1.55 lakh, a return of Rs 8,000 per month would be given for 60 months. After this…More

TOI : PUNE: A man hanged himself after killing his wife at Bhosari on Tuesday night. The couple was childless and was married for 25 years.

Hardware shop owner Jaykumar Horne (48) and his wife Lata (42) were staying with Horne’s father near Hutatma chowk on Alandi road. His brothers also stayed in the neighbourhood vicinity. On Wednesday morning, when the couple did not come out of their room till 9 am, Horne’s father became suspicious and called his other sons. They found Horne’s body hanging from ceiling, while his wife’s head was smashed with a hammer.

Bhosari police said Horne was frustrated at not having a child. The couple left a suicide note saying that they are solely responsible for the act.

A case has been registered and further investigations are on. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: Around 665 auto rickshaw stands in Pune received in-principal approval from the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) here on Monday. The RTA has called for further suggestions and clearance to this approval from departments like the police, the Pune Municipal Corporation and the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation.

“Places for stands will be finalised considering the suggestions received from these government bodies. The suggestions are expected in the next 15 days. All stands will have an authorised board from the RTA, displaying the registration number of the stand and the number of auto rickshaws to be accommodated at a particular stand.” The decision over the hike in the current tariff structure of auto rickshaws, however, was postponed.

A decision over this is expected in the first week of March. This was revealed by Nitin Karir, RTA president, after a meeting on Monday. He said that a decision over a tariff hike would be taken only after considering various factors like the previous hike, changes in petrol prices and the hike proposed in Thane and Mumbai. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: Following the incident where a ration-shop owner helped the police nab three conmen in Hadapsar, a shop owner in Sadashiv Peth has also filed a complaint against one of the arrested.

Shaam Bansilal Mundada, owner of Match In Style in Sadashiv Peth, said Radha alias Laxmi Hari Solankhi (52) had come to his shop and told him of her gold ornaments, which she would sell to him at a cheap rate. On January 21, Mundada paid Rs 2.5 lakh for the ornaments which, he later found, were made of brass.

PSI A.S. Mulani, who is investigating the case, said, “Mundada read about the conmen’s arrests and since the modus operandi matched, he went to the Hadapsar police and identified the woman who was in custody.”
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TOI : PUNE: Except for imports from West Bengal, the state government’s ban on import of poultry products and feed from outside Maharashtra has now been revoked.

This was in response to the objection expressed by the Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar. The ban had been clamped due to the outbreak of avian flu H1N5 in West Bengal.

“We have issued the required notification to all authorities concerned, asking them to allow the entry of poultry products from outside the state,” confirmed Ashish Sharma, commissioner, animal husbandry department.

According to Pawar, the ban would have had an adverse effect on the Indian poultry industry, especially in Andhra Pradesh which supplies over 40 per cent of its poultry products to Maharashtra. The measures had been put in place to avoid a repeat of the avian flu epidemic that had spread in the state in 2006.

Maharashtra’s poultry industry is concentrated in the districts of Pune, Nashik, Raigad, Ahmednagar, Sangli and Jalgaon. There are, according to official data available, around 40 million live poultry birds. Officials from the animal husbandry department had sealed all borders of the state to stop the import of poultry products and feed. A rapid response team (RRT), comprising 885 members, had been on high alert since the first week of February to avert any crisis. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More