Thane Police has booked four persons, including a convict, from Uttar Pradesh, on charges of hatching a conspiracy to kill a BJP corporator.

Three persons have been arrested by Allahabad Police in this connection while Thane Police has filed a case against four persons in this regard, Bhiwandi Police Station Inspector C R Chavan said.

The conspiracy was allegedly hatched in Naini Central Prison, near Allahabad, to execute BJP corporator and businessman Santosh Shetty, 46, by one convict Aazad Ansari alias Nanhe, who is serving life term imprisonment, the officer said.

Chavan said, according to Allahabad Police, Nanhe is allegedly the main conspirator and had directed three members of his gang — Indreshkumar Gulabsingh, Mohammad Salim alias Shaikh Mohammad Hanif and Rameshkumar Ramtahal Bind — to execute the killing on November 2, 2015, by shooting the corporator at his residence.

George Town Police, Allahabad, got a tip off about the plan and arrested the trio before they could act, the officer said, adding, all the three accused are residents of Allahabad.

The UP police then contacted the Thane Police and a case was registered against the four persons on Tuesday under IPC section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 34 (common intention) and other relevant sections.

Shetty was earlier an NCP corporator but joined BJP during the last Lok Sabha election in 2014.

A senior police constable on night duty was crushed to death by a speeding trailer-truck at a village in the wee hours, police said.

The victim, Fakira Sukdu Tadvi (45), was working as a driver of the control room van attached to the Sahapur police station.

At around 3.30 AM, he spotted a vegetable-laden tempo overturned on a road at Sonale village between Sahapur and Bhiwandi talukas of Thane district. Tadvi got down from his van to help occupants of the tempo.

At the same time, a trailer truck coming from behind hit the tempo crushing Tadvi, Bhiwandi taluka police station inspector Dhananji Kshirsagar said.

The policeman sustained severe wounds in the mishap and was rushed to Fortis Hospital at Kalyan where doctors declared him dead, he said.

The body was shifted to a government hospital for postmortem and will be later taken to his hometown in Jalgaon for the last rites.

Senior police officials from Thane went to the hospital to pay their respects to Tadvi who died on duty.

Meanwhile, the Bhiwandi taluka police registered a case of 304-A (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC and other relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act.

A search was on for the truck driver who fled from the spot after the accident, police added.

A Shiv Sena MLA raised the issue of Bollywood film “Bajirao Mastani” in the Maharashtra Assembly and alleged that the facts were distorted by its producer and director Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

The movie, starring Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra, is scheduled for release on December 18.

Raising the issue under Point of Propriety rule, Pratap Sarnaik, an MLA from Thane, alleged that the film was not in good taste.

Sarnaik said Bhansali has totally ignored the facts of history and the objections raised by the direct descendants of Maratha Emperor Bajirao Peshwa.

He said the director has distorted the facts and that was unfair.

He urged the House to organise a special show for the members of the Legislature before it is released in the theatres.

The MLA, in a memorandum submitted to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, had urged him not to allow the release of the film till the contentious, controversial scenes in the film are not cut.

A 29-year-old merchant navy officer has been arrested for allegedly killing his wife and her paramour at Kamothe in Navi Mumbai, police said.

The accused Dhruvkant Thakur surrendered before police and was subsequently arrested for the alleged crime that took place early on Wednesday.

The victims were identified as Dhruv’s 24-year-old wife Sushmita and her lover Ajaykumar Singh (27), police said adding that after the murder, the accused had also tried to kill himself.

According to police, Dhruvkumar and Sushmita had been living separately since the past few months and Sushmita had handed over the divorce papers to him through an advocate.

“The incident took place at a flat in sector 19 of Kamothe in Navi Mumbai, where three of them were present.

After an argument with Ajay, Dhruvkant lost his temper and slit Ajay’s throat with a knife killing him on the spot and smothered his wife with a pillow,” a police officer said.

“After the double murder, Dhruv came down at the entrance of the apartment around 6 am (on Wednesday) holding the blood-stained knife and clothes. The watchman of the building was aghast to see Dhruvkant in such a condition,” he added.

The accused himself told the watchman to inform the police about the incident, following which the police were alerted about it. The accused surrendered before police and confessed about his crime, the officer said.

“Before descending the building, Dhruv had tried to commit suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling fan inside the flat, although he did not succeed in it,” said police.

The accused has been booked under section 302 (murder) of IPC and further investigation into the case is on.

The number of complaints filed with Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) has seen a steep rise over the last two years, from 14,523 on September 2013 to 23,530 till November 2015, with more than half of them pertaining to police atrocities.

This was stated by Justice S R Bannurmath, Chairman of the Commission, on the eve of International Human Rights Day. From January 2015 to October 2015, 4,898 fresh complaints were filed with the panel, which included 214 custodial death cases, he said.

Of the total 23,530 complaints filed (till Nov 2015), 3,293 were closed as they were not maintainable and 361 disposed of after holding inquiry, he said.

“Most of the complaints, say up to 60 per cent, pertained to police machinery, including illegal arrest, abuse of power etc followed by other public entities such as civic corporations and Zila Panchayats,” Justice Bannurmath said.

Highlighting MSHRC’s activities in 2015, he said, “This year we launched a new initiative, ‘Justice at Doorstep’, through which we held camps/sittings at divisional or district level which witnessed overwhelming response.”

Apart from this, the commission held programmes to sensitise public servants in Kolhapur, Amravati and Buldhana districts on issues related to human rights. The programmes received extremely positive response, he said.

The rights panel awarded compensation totalling Rs 36.58 lakh to victims in 27 cases. Of the total amount, the state government has so far released only Rs 10 lakh, Justice Bannurmath said.

The Commission was established on March 6, 2001 as per international covenants and Promotion of Human Rights Act, 1992, to keep watch and inquire into violation of human rights by government servants.

The MSHRC also promotes respect for human rights and uses education, information and publicity to promote, protect and enforce them.