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TOI : PUNE: Malegaon bomb blast suspect Sameer Kulkarni was on Wednesday remanded to police custody till Thursday for allegedly attacking pastor Peter David Silway of Aundh in 2007.

Meanwhile, inspectors Ashok Shejal and Padurang Sahane of the Khadki police claimed that Kulkarni has admitted to attacking the pastor during interrogation.

The Khadki police obtained Kulkarni’s custody from Nashik jail and brought him to Pune on a transit warrant. Kulkarni was identified as one of the pastor’s possible attackers after his photographs appeared in the media following his arrest by the state Anti-Terrorism Squad in the blast case. The sketch of one of the suspects, drawn as per a description given by the pastor, closely resembled Kulkarni.

Kulkarni was produced before judicial magistrate first class Renuka Satav of the Khadki Cantonment court around 11.45 am.

Assistant public prosecutor B N Kadam said Kulkarni’s custodial interrogation was required as he had gone missing after the incident. Kadam sought sufficient time for Kulkarni’s interrogation to ascertain the whereabouts of his two other accomplices and to recover the sticks with which the pastor was assaulted.

Opposing the prosecution, defence lawyers G G Gawli and Sunil Jhape argued that the veracity of the case registered by the pastor was doubtful as he himself was involved in several cases. The lawyers claimed that the police have detained the two suspects, and hence Kulkarni’s interrogation was not required.

The magistrate asked the defence lawyers to submit an affidavit saying that the police have detained Kulkarni’s associates. After the lawyers failed to file such an affidavit, the court remanded Kulkarni to police custody till Thursday.

After the court proceedings, a large number of people who had gathered to get a glimpse of Kulkarni shouted slogans in his favour and showered flower petals on him. B…More

TOI : District and sessions judge Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi decided to conduct the cross examination of the witnesses in the Deepak Mahajan murder case on November 26. The witnesses will be also examined on November 28, December 1 and 3. Deputy superintendent of police B.R. Patil was also present in the court for finalising the dates.

Additional public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar has submitted a list of witnesses to be cross examined on November 26. And defence lawyer Vidhyadhar Koshe has completed the inspection of the documents in the murder case.

Meanwhile, lawyer Manoj Bidkar has filed a vakalatnama’ for defending accused Leena Devasthali. B…More

TOI : PUNE: Power supply to industrial and residential areas in Shirur taluka in Pune district will be closed from 7 am to 6 pm on Thursday to facilitate laying of power supply cables to Fiat’s manufacturing unit in Ranjangaon.

A statement issued by the Maharashtra state power transmission company said that the cable will be laid from the 220 KV Ranjangaon sub-station to the Fiat unit. Hence, power supply from 220 KV Babhaleshwar Ranjangaon, 220 KV Ranjangaon Lonikand will be closed. Since power supply from Ranjangaon sub-station will also be shut, supply to 132 KV Shirur, Kuruli, Whirlpool and Indian Smelting sub-stations will also be shut.

The statement further said that power supply to industrial and residential areas in Shirur taluka will be shut till completion of the cable laying work. Supply will be restored once the work is done. B…More

TOI : PUNE: Autorickshaw driver Atique Memon (42) of Rasta Peth was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly attempting to sexually abuse a minor boy. The boy is studying in the fourth standard at a school near Quartergate.

According to the police, the auto driver was caught by a police patrol team in Wanowrie. The police noticed a man and a boy in suspicious conditions in the bush near Shivarkar chowk around 5 pm. When the police shouted at them the man started running away. Suspecting something wrong, the police chased and nabbed him.

The police said, when they questioned the boy he said that the man was an autorickshaw driver, who had forcefully taken him in the rickshaw.

According to the police, the boy was waiting for the rickshaw of a rickshaw service that he has hired for commuting to school daily. Meanwhile, the suspect who had been passing by, offered to drop him home. Though the boy refused, the driver forced him into the rickshaw and drove towards Wanowrie.

The police said, after reaching the Shivarkar chowk the driver took the boy to the bush. He asked the boy to undress and also slapped him. While the driver was attempting an un-natural offence, the police patrol team noticed them and the boy was rescued.

The man has been charged with kidnapping and unnatural offence under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code. A local court on Wednesday remanded the suspect to police custody till Saturday. B…More

TOI : PUNE: The police have arrested a sweeper for selling a rare specie of tortoise on Tuesday night.

According to the police, Sanjay Waghela (44), a resident of Wanworie, was caught red-handed while selling this tortoise for Rs 2.5 lakh at Vimannagar.

A team from the anti-extortion cell of Pune police was on a search duty in Vimannagar, when they received a tip-off about a man selling a very rare specie of tortoise in the area.

“Senior police officials received a tip off about the transaction being done in Vimannagar. We laid a trap at the Vimannagar chowk on Tuesday night at around 9 pm,” police inspector Ram Jadhav told TOI.

He added that as per their information Waghela came to the spot with the tortoise, and offered to sell it for Rs 2.5 lakh. He said that he had brought it from Mumbai. Waghela was caught while he was sealing the deal.

When asked about the tortoise, Jadhav said that it will be kept under observation of experts and doctors, who will determine what specie is the tortoise. The one-and-a-half-year-old animal will be moved to the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park in Katraj. B…More

TOI : PUNE: Forest department officials here have denied reports that they had filed a case against noted singer Sonu Nigam for an unauthorised construction of a farm house at Khandla hill station.

“We had not filed any case against Nigam,” a Pune forest official said on Wednesday. B…More