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TOI : KOLHAPUR: Denied his daily staple of porn and horror films on his personal computer, a youth from an affluent family decided to get rid of what he thought was the root cause of his misery.

Abhishek Patil (21) on Tuesday confessed that he had murdered his grandmother Shantabai Patil (67) in cold blood on April 3.

The youth was apparently angry that he had been asked to vacate his room to accommodate his grandmother after she had moved to their house recently. Police inspector G P Dabhade told TOI that Shantabai had recently shifted to the home of her elder son and Abhishek’s father, Shirish Patil, who is a doctor.

Abhishek was upset with his grandmother using his room as he could not get his dose of horror and porn clips which he used to watch on his computer, he said. Abhishek was told by his parents to share a room with his brother, Viren.

Abhishek, a student of a private polytechnic college in Jaisinghpur, had not been attending classes for the past two months and Shantabai often scolded him for that. “She once even chided him in front of guests, which made him contemplate murder,” Dabhade said.

On April 3, Abhishek smashed Shantabai’s head with a stone pestle, killing her instantly. He also stabbed Viren to make it look like an outside job. During interrogation, he tried to mislead the police by saying that Shantabai’s head had been smashed by an intruder. He claimed that he had tried in vain to catch the intruder.

However, the police found discrepancies in the statements given by Abhishek and other family members. Abhishek was picked up on April 5 and subjected to questioning.

On Tuesday, he finally cracked and admitted that he killed his grandmother and stabbed his brother.
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TOI : Only an avid reader would recognise the pain of not being able to get hold of a book one has been dying to read. And, 50-year-old Mohan Vaidya, former journalist and publisher, has introduced a rather unusual service to come to the aid of all book lovers.

The service, ‘Dial a Book’, aims at delivering books at your doorstep with just a phone call.

“Being a voracious reader myself, I often had problems acquiring a book I wanted,” said Vaidya, who, after retiring as a journalist 12 years ago, started his own publishing house, Prakashan Vishwa.

The thought of working out a solution for book-lovers kept crossing his mind. He did not wish to start a bookshop or a library as both would require sizeable capital. “That’s how I thought of ‘Dial a Book’ “, he explains.

‘Dial a Book’, allows a person to order a book over the telephone. Once he gets such a call, Vaidya, who has a database of more than 5,00,000 books, scans through it, checks the availability of the book and delivers it by post to the customer within a week in Pune or elsewhere.

The service is proving to be a boon for readers located in rural areas, especially those who do not have access to bookshops or libraries.

To avail of the service, the customer has to pay Vaidya the book’s price and the postage fees. Vaidya says he has no intention of making a profit through this venture. “All I want is to nurture the habit of reading amongst each and every reader in the state,” he says. According to him, in this age of information overdrive, just being educated is not enough, one has to be knowledgeable. “And, reading books is the only way to nourish knowledge,” he says.

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TOI : PUNE: A 12-year-old girl, who was allegedly molested by her male teacher in school, fell prey to the local politicians’ agenda, who used her case for gaining mileage in Range hills area.

The victim’s father found pamphlets, distributed by a political party, bearing the girl’s name and promises of helping her get justice.

The Khadki police have registered a complaint of molestation against the school teacher, identified as Anil (full name not known).

“The victim said that this teacher, who is new in the school, had asked her to bring the attendance register from a nearby class on March 28. He followed the girl and molested her in an empty class,” PI Ashok Shejal said.

Soon after the incident, a sticker bearing the girl’s name, saying that she has been raped, was found on the school wall. “The family kept silent saying that they will not file a complaint as they have to marry the girl later,” Shejal said.

Later, the victim’s father found a political party’s pamphlet thrown in their house which assured justice in the matter.

The victim’s father approached the police on Sunday to file a complaint against the teacher. The police also booked members of the party under segment of non-cognisable offence.
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TOI : PUNE: It was a lucky escape for two elderly women and their son at a bungalow in Lakaki society in Sahakarnagar in the wee hours of Wednesday, when eight to nine armed men barged into their bungalow and took away gold ornaments and cash, collectively worth Rs 80, 000.

A complaint filed at Dattawadi police station said some eight to nine people entered the bungalow of Bhalchandra Mahadev Chine (52) on early Wednesday morning.

“Four entered the bungalow by breaking open the window panes while others stayed outside,” sub-inspector Pandharinath Waghchaure said.

The dacoits threatened Chine, his mother Sumati (76) and his aunt (72) by showing sharp weapons and asked them to hand over their gold ornaments.

“We saved our life by handing over the gold ornaments and cash, collectively worth Rs 80,000,” Chine said.
Chine, who works in Bank of Maharashtra, said the dacoits asked them not to shout for help.

“We have been staying here for the past 30 years. A thing like this has never happened in the locality,” Chine said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Anil Kumbhare said it is the first dacoity of the year in the city targeting senior citizens. Last year, around three cases of dacoity at residences of senior citizens were registered. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : KOLHAPUR: Denied his daily staple of porn and horror films on his personal computer, a youth from an affluent family decided to get rid of what he thought was the root cause of his misery.

Abhishek Patil (21) on Tuesday confessed that he had murdered his grandmother Shantabai Patil (67) in cold blood on April 3.

The youth was apparently angry that he had been asked to vacate his room to accommodate his grandmother after she had moved to their house recently. Police inspector G P Dabhade told TOI that Shantabai had recently shifted to the home of her elder son and Abhishek’s father, Shirish Patil, who is a doctor.

Abhishek was upset with his grandmother using his room as he could not get his dose of horror and porn clips which he used to watch on his computer, he said. Abhishek was told by his parents to share a room with his brother, Viren.

Abhishek, a student of a private polytechnic college in Jaisinghpur, had not been attending classes for the past two months and Shantabai often scolded him for that. “She once even chided him in front of guests, which made him contemplate murder,” Dabhade said.

On April 3, Abhishek smashed Shantabai’s head with a stone pestle, killing her instantly. He also stabbed Viren to make it look like an outside job. During interrogation, he tried to mislead the police by saying that Shantabai’s head had been smashed by an intruder. He claimed that he had tried in vain to catch the intruder.

However, the police found discrepancies in the statements given by Abhishek and other family members. Abhishek was picked up on April 5 and subjected to questioning.

On Tuesday, he finally cracked and admitted that he killed his grandmother and stabbed his brother.
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TOI : PUNE: An MBA student from a reputed institute in the city, who had taken to consuming drugs, was arrested on Tuesday after leading the police on a wild-goose chase by claiming to have been abducted and that his “kidnappers” wanted Rs 25 lakh to release him.

The youth, Shashankshekhar Uday Narayan Thakur (23), son of an IAS officer posted in Bihar’s revenue department, had called up his sister, Preeti Singh, who stays in Mumbai, asking her to tell his parents that the money should be deposited in his account to pay the “ransom”.

Preeti, who lodged a complaint with the Hinjewadi police station on Sunday, said her brother had told her that two others had also been kidnapped along with him. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More