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TOI : PUNE: Three people died in two separate mishaps on the Pune-Solapur highway in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

A father and his seven-year-old girl died on the spot and four others sustained severe injuries when the private luxury bus they were travelling in rammed into a stationary container on the Pune-Solapur highway near Uruli Kanchan.

The Loni Kalbhor police have identified the deceased as Anil Dhumane (25) and his daughter Neha (7), both of Latur. The injured, identified as Firjan Sayyad, Rajenrda Kadam, Sahebrao Savant and Mukadam Pandhare, have been admitted to a private hospital.

According to the police, the bus was coming to Pune from Solapur, when near Uruli Kanchan the driver lost his control over the vehicle and rammed into a stationed container on the highway.

The impact of the mishap was such that Anil and Neha died on the spot, police said.

In another incident, a tanker driver died on the spot after he lost control over the vehicle and fell into a trench near the road. The incident took place at Sortapwadi near Loni Kalbhor at around 3.30 am on Sunday. The tanker was heading towards Solapur. More Stories from this section Women struggle for representation Special trains to Hyderabad, Howrah Animals trials of H1N1 vaccine in October First-timers bring optimism to poll process Women’…More

TOI : PUNE: The Loni Kalbhor police on Sunday arrested two suspects from Uruli Kanchan for allegedly making MMS clippings while indulging in obscene behaviour with an 18-year-old schoolgirl and circulating it. The girl was filmed without her consent.

The incident came to light after the school authorities contacted the police.

The police have slapped the suspects with relevant charges under the Information and Technology (IT) Act.

The suspects have been identified as Mayur Kunjir (23) and Rahul Tambe (26) both from Uruli Kanchan. A complaint in this regard was lodged by assistant police inspector of Loni Kalbhor police station.

“No one came forward to lodge the complaint. We took action suo motu and arrested the suspects,” said inspector Ravindra Rasal of the Loni Kalbhor police station.

Kunjir runs a mobile shop in the area and was a friend of the victim, the police said. A week back, Kunjir took the victim to a room near the school and indulged in obscene behaviour on mutual consent. However, he secretly recorded the act and later, allegedly distributed the clip among his friends.

One of his friends’ Tambe allegedly started blackmailing the girl and asked her for a sexual favour. This act, too, was filmed by Tambe without the girl’s consent, the police said.

The suspects then forwarded this clip to their other friends. The suspects also allegedly sold the clip to a mobile shop owner, police said.

“We have seized the one-minute MMS clip from the suspects. We have booked them under section 292 of the Indian Penal Code and various sections of IT Act,” Rasal said.

The police suspect the involvement of a group of people in the crime, and suggest a possibility of more victims. “We have identified five suspects who were involved in distributing the clip,” said sub divisional police officer (SDPO) Ravidrasinh Pardeshi. More Stories from this section Women…More

TOI : PUNE: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar launched the campaign for his party for the October 13 assembly elections from Shetphal in Solapur district on Sunday by addressing a well-attended rally.

Pawar sought to touch an emotional chord with the voters by stating that it was time for the party’s young leadership to play a greater role in the future politics and development of the state, along the guiding path set by the seniors.

The NCP chief, earlier addressing a campaign rally at Solapur city for Congress candidates Praniti Shinde, daughter of union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde, fielded from Solapur City Central constituency besides Mahesh Kote, a former mayor of Solapur, fielded from the Solapur City North seat and Dilip Mane (Solapur South).

Later, Pawar proceeded for the NCP campaign launch at Shetphal, which falls in the Mohol assembly constituency and is strategically located as a convergence point for most key assembly segments Madha, Pandharpur, Karmala and Malshiras in Solapur district where NCP has fielded its candidates.

While former deputy chief minister Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil is contesting from Pandharpur, the other NCP candidates are: Shyamaltai Bagal (Karmala), Babanrao Shinde (Madha), Hanmant Dolas (Malshiras-SC) and former minister Laxmanrao Dhoble (Mohol).

Pawar made light of the widespread rebellion within the party ranks over the issue of ticket distribution. He said, the party’s senior leadership was to be blamed for the delay in finalising the candidates, which, in turn, led to rebellion. He said, most of the rebels would be convinced in the next couple of days.

Pawar ruled out the possibility of the rebellion denting the NCP prospects in the elections. “After all, people tend to recognise the official party nominees rather than the rebels,” he said.

State NCP chief R R Patil, in his speech, said that the NCP-Congress alliance was committed to making Maharashtra load-shedding free within the first two years of…More

TOI : PUNE: District collector Chandrakant Dalvi on Sunday said violations of the election code of conduct have been dealt with sternly, with 2,284 non-bailable offences registered so far.

“The administration held a meeting on Sunday with political parties and the election observers, where it was made clear that the election code will have to be strictly adhered to. The parties were also informed about the details of the code of conduct,” Dalvi said during a press conference at the collectorate.

Action had been taken against polls violations such as defacement of property, illegal sale of liquor and misuse of vehicles, the collector said.

According to Dalvi, 788 firearms have been seized; 116 places have been declared as “vulnerable” for polling and extra attention will be focused on them to ensure safe elections

Publicity material found defacing property including boards, banners, posters, flags, hoardings and cut-outs were also removed. In all, 20,885 such articles were seized in the 21 constituencies. Liquor and raw material worth Rs 35,32,814 was also confiscated, he stated.

Till Sunday, 457 candidates remain in the fray for the state elections in the district, including 33 women candidates, Dalvi said. More Stories from this section 11 test positive for H1N1 Pawar launches NCP campaign from Solapur Two held for making lewd MMS clipping…More

TOI : PUNE: As many as 11 people tested positive for the H1N1 influenza on Sunday.

With this, the total number of positive cases reported across the district has reached 1,225. Meanwhile, the 60-year-old woman from Tathawade village in Pune district who died in the Sassoon hospital on Friday, tested negative on Sunday, said Ashok Mehta, joint director of the state health services.

“Total 526 suspected patients are on Tamiflu while approximately 22,784 have been given tablets so far,” said Mehta. Around 6,081 people were screened across the district and 84 were discharged on Sunday.

Fifteen patients are presently being treated at the isolation ICUs of various private and government run hospitals. Of which, five are on ventilator, said Mehta. “The Sassoon hospital has seven patients in isolation ICUs, of which two are on ventilator. While there are seven patients admitted in isolation ICUs of private hospitals, of which three are on ventilator,” said Mehta.

Meanwhile, the PMC has declared holiday to all the screening centres on Monday on the occasion of Dussehra. However, Naidu Hospital will remain open. All the 53 screening centres in PMC limits will start working from Tuesday. Around 4.78 lakh people have been screened across the district so far. More Stories from this section ‘Stern action against code violators’ Pawar launches NCP campaign from Solapur Two held for making lewd MMS clipping…More

TOI : PUNE: As the first week of October is celebrated as Wildlife Week, the department of forests, Pune circle, in association with Nature Walk and Indiaart Gallery, has organised a few interesting events in the city.

From October 1 to 9, a photography and painting exhibition depicting wild life will be held at Indiaart Gallery at Patrakarnagar, off Senapati Bapat road, from 10 am to 8 pm. The exhibition will be inaugurated by veteran cartoonist and illustrator Magesh Tendulkar on October 1. A K S Sinha, chief conservator of forests, Pune, will also be present on the occasion.

The exhibition will feature the best of wildlife from amateur and professional photographers and artists. Documentaries on wildlife will also be screened at the venue, specially for school children, during the week from 11 am to 12.30 pm.

Talks on various aspects of wildlife will be held at the art gallery by experts from 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm. On October 1, a Vann Katta has been organised at Pachgaon Parvati Garden from 4 pm to 6 pm, during which forest department officials will dialogue with citizens on their participation in preserving forests and wildlife.

On October 4, a workshop on orthopaedic ailments and their treatment will be held at Sinhagad. Patients can undergo free check-ups as well. This has been jointly organised by the department of forests and Naik hospital. Well-known surgeon and ornithologist Satyasheel Naik will hold the workshop with a team of doctors. More Stories from this section 11 test positive for H1N1 ‘Stern action against code violators’ Pawar launches NCP campaign from Solapur Two held for making lewd MMS clipping…More

TOI : PUNE: Bhaskar Saha, a scientist with the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), has used models of tumour and Leishmania infection to show how the fundamental principles of cellular regulation may be exploited for therapeutic purposes. For this research, Saha’s name has featured among the eleven scientists for 2009 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for science and technology.

“Inflammation which is one of the characteristics of higher forms of life, is a wonderfully orchestrated process. The production of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory proteins is normally balanced through a complex process called signal transduction. This transduction is a relay to convey messages from outside the cell to the cell nucleus through a chain of several proteins,” said Bhaskar Saha via an email from Switzerland. Saha is there to do research work related to atomic force microscopy.

This balance called homeostasis is essential for preservation of cell and tissue function. Certain conditions like tumour and chronic infections like Leishmaniasis are the results of upset of this balance. Saha has worked on the restoration of this balance by mainipulating certain key proteins in the signal transduction chain like CD40 and p38MAPK proteins. “This can have tremendous impact on the treatment of malignancies and chronic infections like leichamiasis,” said microbiologist Siddharth Dalvi.

Elaborating it further, Saha said, “We maintain homeostasis or the “set point” for a particular function, as the receptor molecules present on or inside the cells recognise and respond to the disturbances that act as stimuli.”

For example, the normal rate of heart beat at 72 per minute can increase due to adrenaline-mediated action or can be decreased by acetylcholine – a key neurotransmitter that counteracts the effect of adrenaline so as to maintain proper homeostasis.

In principle, two different cell types or two different receptors on the same cell function counteractively to restore the set point, which, in the above example, is the heart rate.

Rephrasing,…More

TOI : PUNE: The city police on Sunday managed to seize the car used by the gang of four suspects who shot dead the owner of a courier firm and injured his employee in Raviwar Peth on Saturday afternoon.

The police have also released the sketches of the suspects as per the descriptions given by an employee of the courier firm, who was present in the shop when the incident took place.

On Saturday afternoon, four unidentified suspects entered the office of the Patel Ishwarlal Bechardas & Co, in Tayabia complex at Raviwar Peth. They asked the owner and the staff to hand over cash and valuables. When the owner, Dilip Gujjar (35), refused to meet their demands, two of the suspects opened fire at him. Gujjar died on the spot and his employee, Kanjibhai Desai (38), both residents of Ashtekar apartments in Ganesh Peth, sustained injuries. Soon after the firing, the suspect fled, but after taking Rs 14,900 from Sambhaji Nagade, a customer who was present at the shop during the incident.

Speaking to TOI, assistant commissioner of police Sangramsinh Nishandar said, “We have found the car used by the suspect about 400 metres from the spot. The suspects might have parked the car before entering the shop. Investigations have revealed that the car had been stolen from Thane.”

Investigations have also revealed that on Saturday, when the suspect parked their car in front of a shop in Raviwar Peth, the owner of the shop initially did not allow them to park the car there. At this, there was a squabble between the suspects and the owner. Later, however, they told the owner that their car had a technical problem and they would be back in five minutes with the mechanic, and went towards the Tayabia complex, the police said.

Meanwhile, the police have released the sketches of the suspects. “We have send several teams…More

TOI : PUNE: Following the arrest of two suspects, the Dattawadi police have claimed to have solved the murder of 42-year-conductor of a PMPML bus, Sanjog Pundalik Shinde.

Shinde was found murdered near Mangirbaba chowk in Dattawadi on April 27. The Dattawadi police have identified the suspects as Nikhil Ramchandra Bodke (19) and Deepak alias Pappu Subhash Bhosale (20) both from Dattawadi. The police team, led by inspector D B Patil of Dattawadi police station, managed to arrest the suspects five months after the crime.

Investigations have revealed that the suspect murdered Shinde following a petty quarrel and exchange of abusive words. The duo was so furious after the brawl that they allegedly killed Shinde with sharp weapons.

Speaking to TOI, assistant inspector of the Dattawadi police B R Naikwadi said, “The duo was untraceable after the murder. Recently, we received a tip-off that they will be coming to Dattawadi. Accordingly, we laid a trap and nabbed the suspects. During sustained interrogation, the duo have confessed to their involvement in the crime.” More Stories from this section 11 test positive for H1N1 ‘Stern action against code violators’ Pawar launches NCP campaign from Solapur Two held for making lewd MMS clipping…More

TOI : PUNE: The Max Mueller Bhavan, Pune has organised the Youth Film festival from September 28 to October 1 that will present four German feature films and four short films.

The screenings will be held at SM Joshi auditorium in Navi Peth at 4 pm every day. The first day of the festival will offer Wild Soccer Bunch,’ a German feature based on a motley crew of six to ten-year-olds planning to spend their holidays playing their favourite sport. The Flying Classroom,’ based on Erich Kastner’s book of the same name based on life at a boarding school, on September 29.

Wild Chicks’ is about four best friends and their escapades, and will be screened on September 30. Emil and the Detectives,’ a film based on another one of Erich Kastner’s book, will be shown on October 1.

Friendship is the common theme that runs through the films to be screened during the festival. The four-day programme has been organised under the PASH programme of the Goethe Institute, and it travels to eight Indian cities, Pune being one of them.

The PASH programme was initiated a year ago by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Germany. The short films to be screened at the festival have been contributed by The School for Film and Television Konrad-Wolf in Potsdam, Germany. More Stories from this section 11 test positive for H1N1 ‘Stern action against code violators’ Pawar launches NCP campaign from Solapur Two held for making lewd MMS clipping…More