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TOI : PUNE: In a shocking case of police brutality, two suspects held for a series of chain-snatching and thefts complained to a local magistrate here that the Wanowrie police injected petrol in their anus and forced them to drink urine during their interrogation in the lock-up.

The government-run Sassoon hospital, which was asked by the magistrate to conduct a medical examination of the duo, furnished a report to the court on Thursday that corroborates the charges of the suspects.

The alleged brutality occurred between February 17 and 20 when the duo — Ajay Pardeshi (34) and Rakesh Purohit (34) — was in the custodial remand of the Wanowrie police. On February 11, they had allegedly snatched the purse of former Miss India Amrita Thapar while she was travelling in a rickshaw along the Empress Garden road.

On February 20, the police produced Pardeshi and Purohit before judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) G.B. Gurao at the cantonment court for seeking an extension of their custodial remand. It was during this proceeding that the duo told Gurao of the alleged police brutality.

They also showed their injuries to Gurao, prompting the latter to order their remand under judicial custody and a transfer to the Yerawada police lock-up.

Speaking to TOI on Friday, assistant public prosecutor Kiran Bendbhar said that the Sassoon hospital, which conducted the medical examination of the suspects, corroborated the charges in its report.

Gurao has since taken all the case papers, including the police remand report, first information report, statements recorded by the suspects and medical reports, in his possession. He also told the suspects that a report would soon be sent to the district and sessions judge for a full-fledged inquiry into the incident.

Asked to comment on the issue, city police commissioner Jayant Umranikar said he was not aware…More

TOI : PUNE: An elderly Hindu priest and his three daughters were allegedly abused and severely beaten up by a group of people at the temple town of Dehu recently.

The attackers, who wanted the priest to vacate his house and a small temple owned by a trust, also demolished his accommodation.

The daughters, all of them highly educated, have alleged that their inter-caste marriages was also one of the reasons why they were assaulted.

Although the incident took place on February 11 — the very day that Dehu was celebrating the 400th birth anniversary of Sant Tukaram, the world-renowned saint who spent most of his life in the temple town — the priest’s family is still crying for justice.

The priest, Sopan Nivrutti Lonandkar (70), is still salvaging his belongings from the rubble after the group of about 25 to 30 people went on a rampage, pulling down the walls of the three-room house.

His wife, Savitribai (62), who is in a state of shock, cannot stop crying everytime someone comes to console her.

Savitribai was at her native place at the time of the incident, and came to know of the attack only on Friday morning.

Lonandkar, who has been staying in the house for the past 50 years, performs poojas every day at the small Vitthal-Rukhmini temple which is located in the house.

Lonandkar’s son and daughter-in-law also reside with him.

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TOI : PUNE: Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) will soon launch a drive to sterilise stray dogs to reduce their population in the township.

Speaking to the media recently, chairman, standing committee, PCMC, Ajit Gavhane said the standing committee (SC) had approved a resolution to take help of non-governmental organisations (NGO) in this matter.

Gavhane said the sterilisation charge per dog was Rs 470, which had been approved by the SC.

Development projects with a total expenditure of Rs 3 crore were also given the go-ahead at the meeting.

Development projects regarding the electrical department with an expenditure of Rs 2.20 crore were approved. Resolutions were taken regarding the shifting of electricity poles and wires obstructing traffic on the Chikhli road in Sambhajinagar area, at an expenditure of Rs 49.98 lakh, and shifting high-tension wires and electricity poles obstructing traffic in Kakade park area at an expenditure of Rs 49.13 lakh.

The resolution for laying drainage pipes in different parts of Wadmukhwadi at an expenditure of Rs 29.66 lakh were also approved. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: In a scene straight out of a Bollywood flick, a 60-year-old English woman refused to pay her dinner bill at a prominent city hotel on Thursday evening after she ran out of money.

The woman, Caroli Brumli, who has been here on a tourist visa since the past three months, created a scene when asked to pay her bill amounting to Rs 700 at hotel Aurora Towers in the Pune cantonment.

The cantonment police, who arrested Brumli under the relevant sections of the Bombay Police Act, have requested the passport office to send her back to England.

Senior police inspector Deepak Humbre said that after creating a ruckus over the bill, Brumli ran to a toilet in the hotel and locked herself in. The police managed to bring her out and arrested her.

On being questioned, Brumli said she did not have money to pay the bill. “She said she lived at Kondhwa and provided us with an address. However, when we went there, the owner of the house said he did not know her,” Humbre said.

Brumli was produced before the court on Friday and released on a personal bond. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: The special operations wing (SPO) of the city police on Friday booked Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agent Syed Mohammed Desai and one Tayyab under the Official Secrets Act (OSA), 1923.

Meanwhile, judicial magistrate first class S.J. Ansari on Friday further extended the police custody remand of ISI agent Shailesh Jadhav of Satara till February 27.

Assistant public prosecutor Shilpa Mahatekar told the court that the police had invoked section 10 of the OSA against Desai after investigations had revealed that he had stayed at Jadhav’s residence at Satara for two days after he had fled from the Sahakarnagar police station on January 23.

Mahatekar said that the police have obtained a production warrant from the court of the chief judicial magistrate for seeking Desai’s custody from the Kolkata jail.

Pressing to further extend the police custody, Mahatekar submitted that the custodial interrogation of Jadhav was required because an unknown Pakistan national had lured him on telephone to collect information relating to the army at Jodhpur like where were they doing their exercise, what weapons were they possessing and technical details of various units.

Mahatekar argued that the investigations had revealed that Jadhav had travelled in an autorickshaw to collect vital information along with some person whose identity is not known.

The prosecution contended that Jadhav, an ex-serviceman, had not surrendered his identity cards and suspected him of misusing it for obtaining classified information.

Defence lawyer Vidhyadhar Koshe opposed the prosecution’s plea and prayed to remand the accused to magisterial custody on the grounds that the court had given ample time to the police to interrogate Jadhav ever since he was arrested on February 15. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More