As many as eight persons have been arrested on charges of theft of LPG gas cylinders worth Rs 6.44 lakh and selling them here, police said today.

Four persons were arrested in this connection on December 4, while four others, who were involved in purchase of the stolen cylinders, were nabbed from different areas of Thane on Friday and Saturday, Bhiwandi Police Crime unit sub-inspector, Ravindra Doiphode said.

As many as 152 LPG gas cylinders of companies BharatGas, Hindustan Petroleum and a four-wheeler van, worth Rs 6.44 lakh was recovered from the accused, the officer said.

A gang of four accused had carried out a theft between April 16 and 17 this year at the godown of Bharat Petroleum in Kalyan and stolen 68 gas cylinders worth Rs 1.60 lakh. They also broke the CCTV camera installed in the godown, he said.

A case was booked in this regard under relevant IPC sections by the Manpada Police.

During the course of investigation, Crime Branch officials received a tip off that a gang involved in theft of gas cylinders will be around Mumbra station here, following which a trap was laid on December 4 and they were held.

The four persons were identified as — Jalal Khan, 45, Zahir Khan, 32, Sayeed Ahmed, 19, and Rajesh Dhanavade, 28, he said.

The officer apprised that the gang operated in and around Thane. Jalal, who lead the gang, has as many as 12 offences lodged against him.

The accused confessed to their crime of carrying out theft in Manpada and Kalyan taluka and revealed the names of purchasers of the stolen gas cylinders.

Based on the information of the accused, police arrested the purchasers from different areas of Thane in the last two days.

They were identified as — Atik Ansari, Sudhakar Nadar, Abdul Khalil Chudhary, and Dharmendra Agrahari.

A record 92 cases were settled by six industrial and labour panels of the National Lok Adalat in Thane, bringing relief to over 1,000 workers.

The cases, pending for several years, amounted to about Rs 7 crore, Assistant Registrar of the Industrial Court, GG Mahavarkar said. “As many as 191 matters, pending for different durations, were placed before the six panels, of which 92 were settled.

Of the 148 labour cases placed, 60 were settled. The balance were industrial disputes,” he said. The oldest case taken up in the National Lok Adalat held yesterday, dated back to 1993 and pertained to the National Rayon Corporation (NRC). Seven cases relating to the NRC were settled, which amounted to about Rs 30 lakh, he said.

Mahavarkar said the settlement formula adopted by the panel for the NRC case will benefit around 2,000 other employees of the corporation, who are awaiting a redressal, adding that the formula was unique and thus accepted readily by the two sides.

The said panel was headed by the Administrative Judge of Labour Court PS Chandgude and comprised Advocate Ajit Puranik and Advocate Ramesh Chavanke as the members, he said.

In one pending industrial case involving a company from Navi Mumbai, the settlement was to the tune of Rs 5,17,63,000, he said, adding it was pending since 2008 and involved 65 employees. The matters settled on Saturday brought relief to over 1,000 industrial workers. It was achieved with the inspiration of the Administrative Judge of the Industrial Court, SK Deshpande, the Registrar added.

A 23-year-old woman, who had consumed poison in suburban Matunga last week allegedly due to harassment by a youth, died.

“The woman had attempted suicide by consuming poison near her college last Wednesday as she was being harassed by the 23-year-old man,” said Matunga police station senior inspector, Balasaheb Kakad.

The victim, whose name is withheld by police, breathed her last in Sion Hospital in morning.

The accused, identified as Ilaiyaraja Velpandi, was arrested on Wednesday itself.

Following the woman’s death, police today added section 305 of IPC (abetment to suicide) against Velpandi who was earlier booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Kakad said.

Velpandi was allegedly harassing the girl for last few months and pressurising her to accept his marriage proposal.

“On last Wednesday, Velpandi accosted the girl and asked her to marry him,” the officer said.

Bollywood actors Neil Nitin Mukesh and Johny Lever attended an event hosted by a city-based hospital for the kids suffering from cancer.

The Tata Memorial Hospital hosted “Hope 2015” with ImPaCCT Foundation, which is a part of its pediatric division.

It was also graced by former chairman of Children Film Society of India (CFSI) Amol Gupte.

“I promised that I would support and spread joy among children and be part of the annual event HOPE every year from now on,” Neil said.

Sripad Banavali, Head of Department, Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, said, “Out of the 2000 child cancer patients that register at TMH every year, nearly 70 per cent of the child patients at Tata are treated almost free of charge with the help of our sponsors and donors and these have become doctors, engineers, IITians, designers, CAs.”

“Despite the fact that cancer’s treatment is very complex and expensive, childhood cancers are highly curable, provided they are diagnosed early and treated properly,” he added.

At a time when Damu Nagar fire incident victims are suffering due to government apathy a couple has come forward to donate money for providing relief to calamity affected persons. Shardanand Adav, a Kandivali resident had saved Rs 25,000 for purchasing sari as a gift to his fiancé Aarti Chauhan. Instead of presenting the gift to Aarti, Aadav donated the money for the victims of Damu Nagar fire incident. Through this gesture the couple has set examples for others to emulate.

Shardanand Adav said, “This is the decision of my fiancé Aarti who motivated me to donate the money for victims. We need to help them in this hour of crisis.”

Aarti Chauhan said, “If we donate money to fire incident victims then it gives us immense happiness. Already people are suffering huge hardships after they have lost their houses and valuables.”

Adav is the president of a NGO named Rehte Cha Raja while Aarti is the president of the women cell of the organisation. The couple are set to tie the knot on 25th December, 2015. Many other volunteers too have come forward to donate money, utensils, clothes, food, medicines and other essential commodities to victims.