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TOI : PUNE: A fracas over change of a Rs 500 note turned ugly on Tuesday, when a 21-year-old woman passenger allegedly kicked a PMPML bus conductor in the stomach at least thrice.

According to a police complaint lodged by the conductor, Subhash Abhiman Kamble (48), the passenger and her colleague Rajesh Sharma boarded the bus near Vishweshwar bank on Satara road. Sharma handed over a Rs 500 note to Kamble for the ticket fare of Rs 12 for Appa Balwant chowk. When Sharma said he did not have change, Kamble assured him that he would get back the remaining amount later.

After the bus moved from Swargate, the woman started asking for the remaining amount. The woman got furious when told that he did not have the amount. This led to a heated exchange between them. Soon, she allegedly kicked Kamble in his stomach thrice, although Sharma was trying to stop her.

Fellow bus passengers told TOI that the conductor was calm throughout and that he had promised to return the change to Sharma. However, the girl suddenly started kicking Kamble, they said.

Following the incident, the bus was taken to the Phadgate police chowky, where a case was regressed against the woman for obstructing work of a public servant.

Assistant sub-inspector S.G. Chaher told TOI that the woman had not been arrested because her relatives said she was not well. When contacted, the woman alleged that Kamble verbally abused her.

Meanwhile, Kamble, who has been working with the transport body for 16 years, was referred to the Sassoon hospital for treatment. He has been advised rest for two days. Incidentally, this is the fifth such incident in the past two months in which PMPML bus drivers and conductors have been beaten up, either by passengers or by motorists. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: The municipal corporations of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad received a boost with the Union government’s central sanctioning and monitoring committee on Tuesday granting Rs 511 crore for Pune and Rs 121 crore for Pimpri-Chinchwad under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

A meeting to review JNNURM works was held on Tuesday in New Delhi under the chairmanship of Union Urban Development (UD) secretary M. Ramchandran, which was attended by city mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale, Pune municipal commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi, Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma and head of PMC’s JNNURM cell Vinay Deshpande.

The PMC recieved a sanction of Rs 37 crore for Alandi road, Rs 269 crore for Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) phase I, Rs 40 crore for BRTS pilot project and Rs 165 crore for infrastructure projects for Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG).

Speaking to TOI, Deshpande said the funds sanctioned on Tuesday were the cost of additional elements in the projects already sanctioned by the central government. “There were some projects which required additional funds, so we sent a proposal to the central government. The committee reviewed our proposal and the development works currently on in the city and gave a go-ahead,” Deshpande said.

Meanwhile, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has received the sanction for implementation of sewage projects with a total expenditure of Rs 121 crore. “The PCMC will be implementing the phase II of sewerage projects for the benefit of nine newly merged villages in the municipal limits.”

Sharma further said, “Earlier the Central government has approved the phase I for sewerage projects with a total expenditure of Rs 120 crore. It has also approved the phase II now. As a result, the PCMC has received approval for sewage projects with a total expenditure of around Rs 240 crore till now.” Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: The anti-extortion cell of the city police has arrested Nitin Sangle (23) of Dhankawdi for allegedly threatening Sadashiv Tambe (59), a retired officer of the state irrigation department, and demanding Rs 30 lakh from him.

A complaint by Tambe, a resident of Dhankawdi, says he had purchased land from Sangle’s relatives in 2002. Sangle, who recently came to know that his mother was one of the successors to the land, started demanding more money from Tambe.

Sangle had roped in gangster Gajanan Marne for the extortion bid. Inspector Kishor Jadhav and assistant inspector Raghunath Phuge laid a trap at a hotel on Pune-Satara road and nabbed Sangale. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: A 26-year-old software engineer, Saroj Kumar Brahmanand Nayak, was found dead under mysterious circumstances on a hillock in the forest area of More Sansthan, barely a kilometre away from the Hinjewadi IT park here. Nayak’s body was found hanging from a tree on Monday evening.

Prima facie, police suspect it to be a case of suicide although the cause of death was being ascertained. Investigators had no immediate clues such as a suicide note, to make a concrete conclusion. However, circumstances and the fact that the body carried no external injury marks, provided pointers to suicide as the cause of death.

Nayak, a B.Tech degree holder from Puri in Orissa, was an employee of a Mumbai-headquartered IT firm and was working as a sub-contract personnel on one of the projects of software giant Tech Mahindra. He had arrived in Pune a little over two months ago and was since residing in a rented house at Chandan Nagar in Yerawada. Nayak had earlier worked in Delhi and Bangalore.

Citing statements by his friends and relatives, the police investigators said that Nayak was a loner by nature and would seldom mix with people or go out partying or socialising. Nayak was last seen by his friend, Bipindra Mallik, when the former left home on Sunday morning. Both Nayak and Mallik stayed together, police said.

Following post-mortem and related formalities, Nayak’s body was handed over to his elder brother, Santosh Kumar, on Tuesday evening. Santosh, along with a relative, had rushed to Pune from Puri on learning about the incident.

The incident comes within two weeks of the death of yet another techie, Sandeep Shelke, who jumped to his death from the seventh-floor terrace of the Persistent Systems office at Erandwane, where he was employed.

According to Hinjewadi police sub-inspector Pratap Pawar, the police were first informed about Nayak’s…More

TOI : PUNE: Out of the 12 dams in the Mula-Mutha and Nira basins, eight have reached maximum storage capacity, while one is at 99 per cent, due to the continuous rainfall in the catchment areas for the last 10 days. However, the Nazare dam in the Nira basin continues to have 0 per cent live water storage.

It may be noted that the water stored in dams is categorised as live water and dead water storage. The former term signifies the type of water that can be used, while the latter term denotes quality of water that is dispensed only in times of scarcity.

According to the irrigation department Pune division, the dams that have reached 100 per cent capacity are Khadakwasla, Temghar, Panshet, Varasgoan, Pavana, Mulshi, Gujawani and Veer. Kasarsai dam has recorded 99 per cent live water storage, with the Bhatghar and the Nira-Devghar at 96 per cent and 94 per cent respectively. Nazare dam is yet to reach the live water storage level.

The water level at Ujjani dam went up to 87 per cent on Tuesday because of continuous water discharged from the Mula-Mutha river over the last 10 days. Vijay Ghogre, executive engineer, Khadakwasla irrigation division, told TOI, “The final review of the water levels in these dams will take place on October 15.” Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: Ayaz Khan (26), one of the three alleged SIMI activists who were arrested by the Mumbai ATS recently in connection with their association with a sleeper cell, was caught with firearms a year ago by the Pune police. “The action was taken by the Cantonment police,” a senior special branch official told TOI.

Ayaz was picked up by the ATS from a mobile phones shop on M.G.Road,where he was working as manager.His family has been alleging that he was being implicated by the ATS in the Ahmedabad blasts case.

Saira, Ayaz’s mother, told TOI on Monday that she has written to home minister R.R. Patil, seeking justice. She said the Mumbai police was targeting Ayaz as he was on watch after his brother’s encounter death. Ayaz’s elder brother Firoz was killed in an encounter in Mumbai in March 2008.

“Even during interrogations, the police were asking him about his deceased brother rather than anything regarding SIMI or the blasts,” Saira said.

AYAZ KHAN

An illegal firearm possession case against him at the Pune Cantonment police station Picked up by the Mumbai ATS in July Tried to kill self by drinking pesticide on August 2 and was admitted to KEM hospital Discharged on August 11, re-arrested by ATS

THE TWO OTHERS ARRESTED

NADEEM SHAIKH

Not on Pune police record Former student of a law college Did diploma in human rights

BILAL KAZAGI

Not on Pune police record Former student of a law college
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TOI : PUNE: The driver and cleaner of an oil tanker were killed when their vehicle rammed into a truck near Baur village on the Pune-Mumbai expressway around 4.30 am on Monday.

According to the Wadgaon Maval police, the truck and the tanker were heading towards Pune. The accident was of such a magnitude that the bodies of the victims got stuck inside the tanker cabin and were later removed by a crane. The deceased were Surendra Pratap Dudhnath Yadav (30) of Mumbai and Indrajit Ambika Yadav (21) of Navi Mumbai.

In another mishap, three people sustained severe injuries when their car over turned near the Khandala tunnel. The car was heading towards Mumbai from Pune when it hit a stone and turned turtle.
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TOI : PUNE: Nitin Dashrath Nidaniya (25), of Pawar Vasti, Dapodi, was beaten to death by two neighbours over a petty quarrel on Sunday night.

The Bhosari police have arrested Bablu alias Vijay Loga Tukaman (20) and his brother Rajan (21) in the case.

According to sub-inspector S.S. Dhumal of the Bhosari police, the Tukaman brothers were fighting with each other inside their house on Sunday night. Suddenly, Bablu went out and started abusing Nidaniya, who was standing outside. The brothers began beating Nidaniya. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival, said Dhumal. The police are yet to ascertain the reason behind the assault.
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TOI : PUNE: The cut-off date for admissions to engineering, management and polytechnic courses has been extended by periods ranging from a week to a fortnight by the state director for technical education (DTE) following a plea by various institutions from the city.

Speaking to TOI on Monday, DTE S.K Mahajan said a section of students, especially from the rural areas, and some institutions from Pune had sought the extension in view of delayed results for degree courses like BCA and BCS.

Similarly, permissions to new diploma institutions are to be announced later this week. “Instead of favouring any one particular course, we decided to extend the admission cut-offs for all courses with suitable periods,” he said.

Admissions to first-year engineering degree courses got over on August 15, while those for second-year engineering lateral entry for the diploma-holders are approaching its final stages.

Similarly, the government is expected to clear new polytechnics, besides announcing new second-shift polytechnics. The second-shift polytechnics - which will be a first-of-its-kind in the state, enabling the institutions to run polytechnics in two shifts from the same premises - forms part of the All India Council of Technical Education’s scheme to cater to the growing demand for technical skill-sets by the industry.

According to a DTE notification issued on August 16, the fresh admission cut-offs for MBA and MMS courses is August 30, instead of August 22; for MCA it is August 20, instead of August 10; for second-year engineering lateral entries it is September 9, instead of August 30 and for diploma courses in engineering, pharmacy, architecture, hotel management and catering technology it is August 30, instead of August 16.

In Pune, a majority of engineering colleges are resuming their classes for 2008-09 academic year from the last week of August.
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TOI : PUNE: Ayaz Khan (26), one of the three alleged SIMI activists who were arrested by the Mumbai ATS recently in connection with their association with a sleeper cell, was caught with firearms a year ago by the Pune police. “The action was taken by the Cantonment police,” a senior special branch official told TOI.

Ayaz was picked up by the ATS from a mobile phones shop on M.G.Road,where he was working as manager.His family has been alleging that he was being implicated by the ATS in the Ahmedabad blasts case.

Saira, Ayaz’s mother, told TOI on Monday that she has written to home minister R.R. Patil, seeking justice. She said the Mumbai police was targeting Ayaz as he was on watch after his brother’s encounter death. Ayaz’s elder brother Firoz was killed in an encounter in Mumbai in March 2008.

“Even during interrogations, the police were asking him about his deceased brother rather than anything regarding SIMI or the blasts,” Saira said.

AYAZ KHAN

An illegal firearm possession case against him at the Pune Cantonment police station Picked up by the Mumbai ATS in July Tried to kill self by drinking pesticide on August 2 and was admitted to KEM hospital Discharged on August 11, re-arrested by ATS

THE TWO OTHERS ARRESTED

NADEEM SHAIKH

Not on Pune police record Former student of a law college Did diploma in human rights

BILAL KAZAGI

Not on Pune police record Former student of a law college
Print EMail DiscussNew B…More