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TOI : PUNE: A 21-year-old engineering student, Ankush Gupta , fell to his death from his seventh-floor flat in a building on B T Kawade road late on Friday night.

Gupta was a third year student of the Shri Shivaji Preparatory Military School on Rajabahadur mills road. Senior PI V S Sonawane said, he had failed in one paper in his second year and had been depressed since. This drove him to end his life.

Gupta, who hailed from Balia in UP, was staying with a friend in a rented flat in wing 2 of ‘Silver Del’ building for the last two years.

Sonawane said Gupta jumped at around 7.30 pm. He was rushed to a private hospital , where he died while undergoing treatment. His body was handed over to his uncle Sumit Gupta of Thane on Saturday after post-mortem . Sumit said his nephew was fine on the day of the incident and had gone to watch a movie.

Gupta’s flatmate, Vishal Sharma, said he had backlogs in six subjects and had applied for revaluation of his answer sheets in three as he had expected to clear them. In the meantime, Sharma took provisional admission in the third year. He was, however, declared failed in one of the three subjects after revaluation and had gone into depression since, Sharma added.

The Hadapsar police have registered a case of accidental death.
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TOI : She is one of those people who believes that the best way to help people is through education . And, when she says this, you have to believe her as well, that’s the charm of her seemingly abundant energy and her passion for the work she does.

Meet Lalita Gupte, septuagenarian , and a teacher, who has been involved in social work for many years now. Be it teaching children herself or providing monetary help for fees, books or uniforms , Gupte has done it all. But, this is not where her good work ends. She has even taken senior citizens in the city into her fold.

“Social work is like a seed. Once it takes root, it’s very difficult to uproot it. Fortunately for me, this seed took root during my childhood. For this, the credit goes to my grandmother, who used to do small deeds for people around her,” says Gupte.

Gupte, who comes from a family of teachers, got married before she completed her education, but was fortunate enough to have a husband who supported her decision to continue her studies and work thereafter. “It was at the start of my teaching career in a city school that I came into close contact with a lot of underprivileged children, some of whom were goons and some of whom had the misfortune of being related to some antisocial elements,” says Gupte, who then took the children under her wing and started providing personal attention.

But her real social work started only after she retired in 1994 and started Apulki, which means caring for someone or showering affection on a person. “The aim of the organisation is to help children, senior citizens and the needy in any way possible ,” says Gupte, who continues to teach even after her retirement.

Visiting 15 schools, 10 in the city and…More

TOI : PUNE: Software engineer Kunthalingam Rangaswamy Mupnar (22), a resident of Indira Park, Chinchwad, died after his motorcycle hit a tree near the Chatushrungi police station around 2 am on Saturday.

According to Chatushrungi police, Mupnar was heading towards Pune University when he lost his control and rammed into the tree. The impact of the mishap was such that he died on the spot, the police said.

Sub-inspector D B Pole of the Chatushrungi police station said that Mupnar was working at a software firm in Kalyaninagar.

In another incident, motorcyclist Rohitsingh Pratapsingh (26) of Bavdhan was hit by a speeding car around 3.30 am on the Mumbai-Bangalore highway near Sutarwadi on Friday.

According to sub-inspector U S Patil of the Chatushrungi police station, Rohitsingh was on his way home when his motorcycle was hit from behind by the speeding car.

Rohitsingh died on the spot. The police have booked Sidharth Sham Rao (23), a resident of Pimple Saudagar for negligent and rash driving . Further investigations are on.
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TOI : PUNE: Twenty-eight-year-old Anil Raskar, who was competing for the post of a police constable, collapsed after completing five rounds of physical test during the Pune police recruitment at the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) ground-2 , Ramtekdi in Hadapsar on Saturday. He was rushed to the Command hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

Raskar is a resident of Kodre Vasti, in Malshiras near Solapur.

According to deputy commissioner of police Rajendra Dahale, who was in-charge of the recruitment process at SRPF ground-2 , “Anil had completed five events of 800 and 100 meters running, long jump, pull-ups and putting the shot, which are necessary for the physical test, by 11 am. Later, he complained of chest pain and was sweating profusely . He then sat on the ground and slept off. After an hour, when other candidates tried to wake him up but he did not respond. He was then rushed to the Command hospital , where he was declared dead on arrival.”

“According to the postmortem report, Anil died due to a cardiac arrest. We have filed a case of accidental death at the Wanowrie police station in this connection,” Dahale added.

Assistant commissioner of police (crime) Sangramsingh Nishandar said, “When we questioned other candidates who were present, we were told that Anil was a little overweight. But, he successfully completed all the five events.”

Sanjay Kshirsagar, an SRPF constable and Anil’s cousin told TOI that Anil was trying very hard to get selected . “This was his last chance to enter the police force because of his age. He had made three earlier attempts, but could not get selected.”

Kshirsagar added, “He had poor family back ground. On Friday night he stayed at my house in Hadapsar. On Monday morning at around 7 am, I dropped him on the ground for physical test….More

TOI : PUNE: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) will take a loan of around Rs 350 crore from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to start a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) service on six routes within its municipal limits. The loan will help meet 25 per cent of the project cost, the civic body said.

Speaking to mediapersons on Wednesday, municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma said the PCMC has received a letter from the ADB expressing its willingness to provide the loan for the BRTS project.

Sharma said, “The PCMC plans to start the BRTS service on six routes in the township at a total cost of around Rs 1,300 crore. The ADB will extend a loan to cover 25 per cent of the project cost, which comes up to Rs 350 – 400 crore.”

Explaining the reason for taking the loan, the civic chief said, “Normally, bank loans have to be repaid in seven to eight years. But the ADB’s loans can be repaid in 15 years. Further, the PCMC has an AA+ credit rating, which means that we can get bank loans easily.”

“We will be working out details of the loan amount and the terms and conditions in two weeks. The ADB has appointed a consultant to assess the social and environmental impact of the project, which is expected to be ready in three months. The loan agreement with the ADB will be signed after that,” Sharma further said.

The municipal commissioner explained that the PCMC will seek 60 per cent of the project cost from the union government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission scheme. The civic body will bear the remaining 15 per cent of the expenditure, Sharma stated.

Sharma said the PCMC will appoint Urban Mass Transit Company Limited to prepare the operational plan for its BRTS project, as had also been…More

TOI : PUNE: Labourers digging at a school campus in Maharashtra stumbled upon a minor treasure, a cache of 847 gold coins of an unknown period, bearing inscriptions in Greek and Urdu, and worth roughly Rs.4.2m, the police said on Saturday.

The labourers tried to keep secret their find but were apprehended.

The treasure trove weighs 2.47kg and is worth about Rs.4.20m, an investigating officer said.

The gold coins were recovered on Friday when some labourers were digging to construct a new swimming pool on the campus of the Gadgil Municipal High School at Shaniwarpeth in Pune.

Three labourers attempted to steal the coins but were later arrested by the police. The entire cache was recovered from the accused.

Shivappa Husanappa Godekar, 40, of Pune, Mallesh Pareshram Nadavikari, 25, of Karnataka and Bhimsha Tirappa Bansode of Sholapur were presented in a city court and released on bail Saturday.

The police have called archaeological and history experts to ascertain the historic origins and the exact value of the gold coins. B…More