Documents seized from an accused under arrest for the murder of social activist Govind Pansare indicate a link to the killings of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and eminent scholar MM Kalburgi.

The Hindu reported that investigating agencies are working on several mobile numbers seen in diaries seized from Samir Gaikwad, a full-time member of the rightwing organisation Sanatan Sanstha.

“We have shared all information. Mr. Gaikwad had noted down many mobile numbers in his diaries, which we traced. Many of the numbers were already on our radar and we are working on it,” the report quoted an unnamed officer as saying.

The report further quoted the officer as saying that the mobile numbers were in serial order — indicating that they were purchased together — and that the users switched numbers often to mislead trackers on cell tower locations.

National Sahitya Akademi award winner Kalburgi was shot dead by two unidentified men outside his Dharwad house in August. Pansare, a CPI leader and anti-supersition activist in Maharashtra, died after he was shot at close range by two men on a bike in February. Dabholkar, another rationalist, was gunned down in Pune in 2013.

While the Pansare murder is being probed by the Maharashtra Police and the Kalburgi case by the Karnataka Police, the Dabholkar case has been handed over to the CBI.

Members of the Sanatan Sansthan, which is headquartered in Goa’s Ramnathi village, are accused in blast cases in Thane and Madgaon. There have been demands for its ban, but the BJP-ruled government in Goa recently said it was waiting for Maharashtra’s report before taking any action.

Sanatan Sanstha, which has a significant following in Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra, claims its aim is to present religion in a scientific manner. Its founder Jayant Balaji Athavale was reportedly a consultant clinical hypnotherapist before he took to spiritual practice.

A day after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) disbanded its Maharashtra unit, the party’s state-level leader Preeti Sharma Menon hit out at AAP’s national executive member Mayank Gandhi and said that he manoeuvred the volunteers in a “dictatorial” way.

“Mayank Gandhi is a member of AAP’s national executive, but his role never went upto the city level and he indulged in the lowest level of politics which destroyed the zeal and enthusiasm of volunteers,” said Sharma.

“He was manoeuvring the volunteers in a dictatorial way ….Party’s base has become almost dysfunctional leading to unrest among the dedicated volunteers about which our central leadership was apprised and just to clean up the mess created thanks to Gandhi, the top leadership had to dissolve the state unit,” she said.

Yesterday, reacting to dissolution of state unit, Mayank Gandhi had slammed the top AAP leader and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, saying he was “hell-bent on destroying the organisation”.

Talking about the decision to dissolve the Maharashtra unit, member of AAP’s state executive committee and senior leader Ravi Srivastava said today, “As a party worker I am supposed to and bound to follow the directives of top leaders, so there is no question of approving or disapproving the party’s decision.”

State unit head Subhash Ware and secretary Abha Mulay remained unavailable for comments on the development.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said a policy regarding utilisation of treated sewage water for MIDC and power generation units was on the anvil. Only 10 per cent of the pollution in urban areas is due to industrial waste, Fadnavis said adding that 90 per cent pollution can be eradicated if citizens and administration work closely to resolve the issue.

“As part of the Swachh Maharashtra Abiyan, we will soon introduce a policy where sewage water will be treated where bulk users like Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and power generation units can utilise it,” the Chief Minister said.

He was speaking at a function to felicitate 19 towns and two wards in Mumbai which have been declared as Open Defecation Free (ODF) under the ‘Swachh Maharashtra’ Abhiyan. Fadnavis said the policy will be unveiled in the third phase after the Open Defecation Free campaign and the solid waste management programme.

“Waste is wealth. Nothing is waste,” he said and assured adequate funds to the towns and cities participating in the Swachh Maharashtra campaign from the 14th Finance Commission. Earlier, Fadnavis felicitated 19 towns including 5 from Satara district as well as wards A and B (Mohammed Ali Road and Chandanwadi) in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for being “Open Defecation Free”. He said the entire state would be covered by 2017.

Ruling partner Shiv Sena has slammed Maharashtra’s BJP-led government’s decision to levy an additional surcharge on a host of items to raise money to tackle the drought situation in the state, dubbing it as “pick pocketing”.

Instead of resorting to this sort of a measure, the state should have sought a financial package from the Centre, similar to the one announced for Bihar, to help crisis-hit farmers, Sena’s mouthpiece “Saamana” said in an editorial.

“We can describe our state of finance in one word–pick pocketing. Remove a little from somebody’s pocket, again remove some from somebody else’s pocket and keep them in the treasury. Do we really need a finance minister at the Centre and in the state to do such things?” Sena said.

“By casting a burden of Rs. 1,600 crore on people to help farmers, state finance minister has indulged in pickpocketing … The only question is, will this really wipe the tears from farmers’ eyes? So far, the government has provided Rs. 425 crore to help farmers who suffered failure of crops, Rs. 690 crore as insurance for crops, Rs. 1,000 crore for crop losses, Rs. 950 crore to distribute foodgrains at cheap costs,” the Sena said.

It wanted Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who belongs to the BJP, make clear the Centre’s stand on providing financial aid to drought affected farmers.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is aware of the problems of crisis-hit Bihar and announced a package of Rs. 1.25 lakh crore. That is evident from the package he announced for Bihar. A similar concern for drought affected farmers will help mitigate the situation (in Maharashtra). We are only asking what is due to us,” the Sena said.

To raise funds for tackling drought, the state government had last week announced a surcharge of Rs. 2 on petrol and diesel while increasing the VAT on liquor, cigarettes and beverages by 5 per cent.

It also imposed a 1.20 per cent surcharge on VAT on gold and diamond jewellery. The additional levy will be in force for five months.

Three women from Maharashtra’s rural areas, who raised their voice against open defecation and highlighted sanitation needs of women, were today named “Swachhata Doots” (cleanliness ambassadors) for the state.
Chaitali Rathod, Sangeeta Awahade and Suvarna Lokhande were appointed “Swachhata Doots” and felicitated by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The appointments were made on the first anniversary of the launch of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, an ambitious civic programme of the Narendra Modi Government.
These women displayed commitment for sanitation, including building toilets, in their own different ways.

Chaitali had sought a prefabricated toilet as a wedding gift over jewellery and other items from her parents in May last.
Sangeeta sold her ‘mangalsutra’ (sacred necklace worn by married Hindu women) and other jewellery for constructing a toilet at her home, while Suvarna took a loan from a women’s self-help group (SHG) to build a toilet in her house.

Lauding the women for their contribution in spreading awareness about the necessity of toilets, Fadnavis said Maharashtra was proud of them.
They are an inspiration for other women for taking a stand that in-house toilets were their right, the CM said.

Chaitali, who hails from Yavatmal, said she was shocked to know that her then would-be in-laws did not have a toilet in their house. “I told my parents I don’t want jewellery or clothes. But toilet was a must. My father accepted my demand and gifted me a prefabricated toilet.”
Sangeeta, a resident of a village in Washim district, rued that people in rural areas don’t realise the importance of toilets. “This is mainly due to poverty and illiteracy.”

“For many years, I kept telling my husband to construct a toilet in the house. But for some reason or the other, he kept postponing taking a decision. One day, I decided that I will not allow my daughter to go out in the open for sanitation needs like I did all these years. I sold my mangulsutra and other ornaments to build a toilet. More than jewellery, toilet is important,” she maintained.

Over the last few weeks, Sangeeta has been visiting nearby villages and speaking about the need for good sanitation facilities.
“I have laid the foundation stone of 7,000 toilet blocks and I intend to continue spreading awareness about the need to end open defecation,” she said.

Sangeeta said her family and fellow villagers stopped talking to her when she sold her mangalsutra. “People’s attitude changed after Rural Development Minister Pankaja Munde felicitated me. Washim MP Bhawna Gawli adopted my village Saikheda under the Gram Sansad scheme,” she said.
Suvarna took a loan of Rs 50,000 from a SHG to build a toilet in her house and even repaid the amount.